58     Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

interested  in  Indian  slavery  ;  and  that  the 
royalties  collected  on  the  gold  mined  in 
America  were  beginning  to  ease  the  here 
tofore  straitened  conditions  of  the  Castilian 
treasury.  It  will  not  then  be  difficult  to 
understand  how,  on  the  arrival  of  the  two 
Friars  in  Spain,  Alonso  de  Espinal,  who 
was  able  to  display  a  bundle  of  letters  from 
Diego  Columbus  and  the  other  crown  of 
ficers  of  Hispaniola,  was  lionized,  while 
Montesino's  Dominican  stock  was  at  a  dis 
count. 

The  former  was  frequently  found  sitting 
by  the  side  of  the  old  king  conferring  with 
him  on  transatlantic  affairs,  whereas  the 
latter  saw  the  doors  of  the  royal  palace  daily 
slammed  in  his  face  whenever  he  attempted 
to  obtain  an  audience.  Happily  the  first 
champion  of  American  liberty  was  not  to 
be  balked.  Having  one  morning  begged 
in  vain  to  be  admitted  to  the  presence  of 
the  king,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  por 
ters  to  keep  him  out,  he  rushed  to  the  inner 
royal  chamber,  and  on  his  knees,  "Sire," 
he  said,  "I  beseech  Your  Highness  to  give 
me  audience  ;  for  I  have  to  tell  you  that, 
which  it  is  very  important  you  should 
know." 

"Speak,  Father;"  answered  the  monarch. 

The  Friar  drew   from  the  folds   of  his 


Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas.     59 

habit  a  memorial  graphically  describing 
the  horrors  of  American  Indian  Slavery 
and  read  it.  Then  said  the  king:  uare 
these  things  possible  ? ' ' 

"Not  only  possible, ' '  answered  the  monk, 
"but  they  are  facts  that  happen  daily.  To 
the  pious  and  kind  heart  of  your  Majesty 
it  seems  impossible  that  men  be  found 
guilty  of  them  ;  I  knew  full  well  that  your 
Majesty  had  not  commanded  them. 

"No  indeed,"  Ferdinand  replied  ;  "never 
in  my  life,  by  God,  did  I  ever  command  any 
thing  of  the  kind." 

The  immediate  result  of  the  conference 
between  Montesino  and  the  Spanish  King 
was  the  appointment  of  a  committee  com 
posed  of  the  ablest  juris-consults  and  theo 
logians  of  the  realm  to  investigate  the 
conduct  of  the  Spaniards  towards  the  In 
dians.  Numerous  were  the  sittings  of  this 
commission.  But  all  the  witnesses  exam 
ined,  except  Montesino,  were  the  defendants 
themselves,  that  is,  quite  a  number  of 
colonists,  who  had  come  to  back  and  sup 
port  their  champion,  Friar  Alonso  de  Ks- 
pinal.  Montesino  stood  alone  to  tell  the 
tale  of  woes  of  the  downtrodden  American 
Indians.  Discouraged  and  depressed  he 
decided  to  make  an  effort  to  convert  Espinal 
himself  to  the  side  of  justice,  because  he 


University  o/ California  •  Bcrkcky 


THE 

life  of  Bartolome  deLas  Casas 


AND 

FIRST  LEAVES  OF 

American  Ecclesiastical  History. 

BY 

REV.  I,.  A.  DUTTO. 


ST.  IvOUIS,  MO.,  1902. 

Published  by  B.  HERDER, 

17  South  Broadway. 


NIHIIv  OBSTAT. 
S.  Ludovici,  die  26.  Octobris  1901. 

F.  G.  HOI/WECK, 
Censor  Theologicus. 


IMPRIMATUR. 

St.  Louis,  Nov.  9th,  1901. 


OHN  J.  KAIN, 
Archbishop  of  St.  Louis,  Mo. 


Copyright,  1902,  by  Joseph  Guinmersbach. 


— BECKTOLD— 

PRINTING  AND  BOOK  MFG.  CO. 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 


T  K 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter.  Page. 

I.     Ancestry  and  early  days  of  Las  Casas....      5 

II.     Las  Casas  an  American  lawyer 11 

III.  Las  Casas  a  Priest 17 

IV.  Social,  political  and  economical  con 
ditions  of  the  first  American  colony 20 

V.     Relations  between  the  first  Kuropean 

settlers  and  the  Indians 26 

VI.     The  Catholic  Clergy  in  the  earliest  Am 
erican  colonies 41 

VII.     The  First  American  Bishop 65 

VIII.     Las  Casas  in  Cuba 73 

IX.     Las  Casas   a  planter,  a  miner,  and  a 

slaveowner  in  Cuba 96 

X.     Las  Casas'   first  visit  to  the  Court  of 

Spain 117 

XI.     Las  Casas  is  made  official  Protector  of 

the  Indians,  and  returns  to  America 151 

XII.     Las  Casas'  second  trip  to  Spain  in  behalf 

of  the  Indians 164 

XIII.  Las  Casas'  efforts  to  work  a  scheme  of 
colonization 198 

XIV.  Las  Casas  tries  a  new  scheme  for  saving        ' 
and  evangelizing  the  Indians 206 

XV.     Las  Casas  famous  audience  and  speech 

in  the  presence  of  Charles  V 263 

XVI.     Las  Casas  sails  for  America  to  settle 
with  his  Knights  of  the  Golden  Epaulet 

on  the  Venezuelan  coast...  291 

XVII.    Las  Casas  a  friar 326 

XVIII.    Third  voyage  of  Las  Casas  to  Spain  in 

behalf  of  the  Indians 343 

XIX.     Las  Casas  in  Peru 352 

XX.     Las  Casas  in  Guatemala 361 

XXI.  Las  Casas  crosses  the  Atlantic  in  the 
interest  of  the  Indians 392 

XXII.  Las  Casas  a  Bishop 416 

XXIII.  Las  Casas  crosses  the  Atlantic  to  take 
possession  of  his  See 438 

XXIV.  Las  Casas  goes  to  Spain  and  crosses 
the  Atlantic  the  last  time ...  527 


T^ 


Life  of  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas 

AND  THE 

First  Leaves  of  American  Ecclesiastical 
History. 

CHAPTER  I. 
Ancestry  and  early  days  of  Las  Casas. 

gARTOL9ME  de  Las  Casas  was  born 
in  Seville  in  1474;  in  what  month  or 
on  what  day  is  not  known.  His  father's 
name  was  Pedro  de  Casaus,  a  gentleman  of 
French  descent,  whose  family  was  settled 
in  Spain  for  upwards  of  two  hundred  years. 
San  Fernando,  the  third  Spanish  king  of 
that  name,  during  the  wars,  which  he 
waged  against  the  Moors  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  had  received  valuable  aid  from 
the  Casaus ;  and  in  recompense  therefor 

:  had  granted  them  Letters  Patent  of  Nobility. 
The  name  Casaus  lost  its  French  spelling 

•  and  acquired  its  present  Spanish  form  of 
Las  Casas  during  the  first  part  of  the  six 
teenth  century.  I  find,  that,  during  his  early 

(5) 


6       Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

manhood,  the  first  American  Priest  occa 
sionally  signed  his  name  Bartolome  de 
Casaus;  but,  when  later  he  acquired  the 
official  title  of  Protector  of  the  Indians,  Las 
Casas  was  the  name  by  which  his  country 
men  knew  him,  and  by  that  name  he  is 
known  to  history. 

The  family  was  very  prominent  in  Spain 
at  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  America. 
Bartolome  tells  us,  in  Historia  de  Las  In- 
dias  (Chapter  IvXXXII.  Book  I.)  that  his 
father,  Pedro  de  Casaus,  and  his  father's 
brother,  (who  was  titled  Francisco  de 
Penalosa,  and  was  a  favorite  of  Queen  Isa 
bella)  came  to  America  with  Christopher 
Columbus  on  his  second  voyage  ;  Francisco 
in  command  of  the  military  forces  of  the 
expedition,  and  his  brother  Pedro  as  an 
attache  of  the  Viceroy.  Having  served  the 
full  term  of  three  years  as  Captain  of  the 
military  contingent  of  the  first  American 
Colony,  Francisco  returned  to  Castile;  but 
Pedro  remained  in  Hispaniola  until  the 
1 8th  of  October  1498,  when  he  returned  to 
Spain.  The  New  World  must  however 
have  had  strong  attractions  for  Pedro ;  for 
on  the  23d  of  August  1500  we  find  him 
landing  again  in  Hispaniola. 

The  nephew  delights  in  recounting  the 
heroic  death  of  his  uncle,  remarking  how- 


Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas.       7 

ever,  like  the  humble  man  that  he  was, 
especially  in  his  old  age  :  ulet  the  glory  be 
given  to  God  alone. "  On  his  return  from 
America,  Queen  Isabella  had  appointed 
Francisco  de  Pefialosa,  Captain  General  of 
an  army,  that  was  sent  to  subdue  the  Moors 
of  Cape  Azamor.  The  camp  of  the  Chris 
tians  had  scarcely  been  pitched  on  the  sea 
shore,  when  the  enemy,  in  overwhelming 
numbers,  fell  upon  them.  Panic  stricken, 
they  would  have  been  massacred  during  a 
rush  they  made  for  their  ships  in  great  dis 
order,  had  not  Pefialosa,  after  describing  a 
circle  in  the  sand,  planted  himself  therein, 
and  threatened  to  kill  the  first  of  the  twenty 
knights,  who  happened  to  surround  him, 
who  should  abandon  his  post.  They  all 
fell,  cut  to  pieces  by  Mohammedan  scimi 
tars,  not  however  without  stemming  the 
onslaught  of  the  enemy  long  enough  to  in 
sure  the  safe  retreat  of  the  Christian  army. 
Francisco  de  Casaus'  death  took  place  at 
the  end  of  1499  or  a^  the  beginning  of  1500. 
Of  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas'  ancestry  on 
his  mother's  side  little  is  known ;  nothing 
of  his  boyhood  and  scarcely  anything  of 
his  early  manhood.  In  March  1493  we  nnc^ 
him  in  Seville,  where  he  saw,  probably  for 
the  first  time,  Christopher  Columbus  on  his 
return  from  his  voyage  of  discovery,  and  the 


8       Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

seven  American  Indians,  wlio  were  the  first 
to  set  foot  on  European  soil.  L,as  Casas 
was  then  between  18  and  19  years  of  age. 
He  was  yet  in  Castile  when  his  father  re 
turned  from  Hispaniola  in  1498  with  a  good 
lump  of  American  gold,  a  portion  of  which, 
if  I  mistake  not,  was  used  in  defraying  his 
expenses  as  a  student  in  the  far-famed 
University  of  Salamanca.  There  he  had 
an  American  Indian  to  wait  on  him  as  a 
page,  whom  Christopher  Columbus  had 
given  his  father  as  a  slave.  All  that  the 
Protector  of  the  Indians  himself  says  of  his 
relations  with  this  child  of  the  forest,  is 
found  in  the  CLXXVI.  Chapter  of  the  I. 
Book  of  his  Historia  de  Las  Indias.  uMy 
father,  to  whom  the  Admiral  (Christopher 
Columbus)  had  given  one  of  them  (an 
American  Indian)  and  who  had  brought 
him  with  him  on  the  afore-mentioned 
voyage  (in  1498)  returned  to  this  island 
(Hayti)  with  the  Commendador  Bobadilla, 
taking  with  him  the  said  Indian,  who  had 
been  a  few  days  with  me  in  Castile,  and 
whom  I  afterwards  met  and  entertained 
here  on  this  island. " 

If  this  Indian  was  ever  truly  the  slave  of 
Bartolome  de  L,as  Casas,  it  must  have  been 
but  for  a  very  few  days,  and  certainly  he 
never  was  at  Salamanca ;  for  the  same 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.       9 

vessel  that  brought  him  to  Spain,  brought 
also  letters  from  Christopher  Columbus  to 
Queen  Isabella,  informing  her  that  he  had 
given,  to  each  one  of  the  returning  Span 
iards,  an  Indian.  On  reading  which  that 
noblest  of  Spanish  women  was  greatly  an 
noyed,  and  broke  forth  in  that  now  histori 
cal  sentence,  which  alone  would  have  suf 
ficed  to  immortalize  her:  ( l  ( Quien  dio  licencia 
a  Colon  para  repartir  mis  Vasallos  con 
nadief")  "Who  gave  permission  to  Colum 
bus  to  parcel  out  my  vassals  to  anybody?'7 
or  as  Las  Casas  has  it:  "What  power  has  my 
Lord  the  Admiral  to  give  my  vassals  to  any 
body  ?  ' '  And  there  and  then  she  wrote  and 
signed  the  famous  decree,  and  caused  it  to  be 
published  at  once  in  Seville  and  in  Granada, 
by  which,  whoever  had  received  from 
Columbus  an  Indian  slave,  was  ordered, 
under  pain  of  death,  to  send  him  back,  at 
his  own  expense,  to  his  native  country  by 
the  first  sailing  vessel.  That  Indian  and 
some  three  hundred  others,  in  the  company 
of  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas'  father  and  the 
ill-famed  persecutor  of  Columbus,  Boba- 
dilla,  saw  once  more  his  beloved  Hayti  at 
seven  o'clock  of  Sunday  morning  the  23d 
day  of  August  1500. 

Two  years  after,  that  is,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  year  1500,  Las  Casas  had  already 


io     Life  ofBartolome  de  Las  Casas. 

obtained  a  Licentiate's  degree  and  the  title 
of  Licenciado,  by  which  I  shall  have  fre 
quent  occasion  to  refer  to  him.  His  diplo 
ma,  not  only  admitted  him,  as  we  would 
now  say,  to  the  bar,  but  also  opened  to  him 
the  doors  to  all  judicial  and  administrative 
positions  in  the  gift  of  the  Spanish  mon- 
archs.  It  will  not  be  thought  amiss  to  re 
mind  the  reader  that  a  Licenciado,  or  law 
yer,  could  not  obtain,  in  those  days,  from 
a  Spanish  University  his  degree  without 
possessing,  at  the  same  time,  a  fair  know 
ledge  of  Canon  Law  and  of  Theology. 


CHAPTER  II. 
Las  Casas  an  American  Lawyer. 


de  Ovando,  a  knight  of  the 
•military  Order  of  Alcantara,  known  as 
the  Comendador  de  Lares,  and  later  as 
the  Comendador  Mayor,  was  about  to 
start  for  Hispaniola  with  thirty-two  ships 
and  2500  emigrants,  drawn  mostly  from 
the  ranks  of  the  nobility  and  the  upper 
classes,  to  replace  the  infamous  Bobadilla 
as  Governor  of  the  island,  and  reform 
abuses.  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas  was  one 
of  the  emigrants.  His  motives  for  exiling 
himself  from  his  beautiful  Castile  seem  to 
have  been  then  no  higher  than  those  of 
an  ordinary  fortune  seeker.  History  how 
ever  records  no  action  of  his,  even  while 
yet  a  layman,  which  would  dishonor  or 
taint  the  good  name  of  a  Spanish  cavalier, 
or  a  Christian  gentleman.  He  came  to 
America,  no  doubt  to  get  rich,  but  only  if 
he  could  do  so  honestly.  The  thirty-two 
ships  set  sails  from  the  port  of  San  Lucar 
on  the  1  3th  of  February  1502.  Eight  days 
later  they  were  approaching  the  Canary 
Islands,  when  a  severe  storni  fairly  fright- 


12     Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

ened  tlie  crews  and  passengers  into  believing 
that  they  would  all  end  their  journey  at  the 
bottom  of  the  sea.  Barrels  of  water,  of 
wine,  of  oil,  etc.,  and  all  heavy  articles  in 
the  cargo  were  thrown  over  board  to  lighten 
the  ships,  which  were  dashed  by  the  fury 
of  the  wind,  some  on  the  coast  of  Africa 
and  some  on  the  neighboring  islands  of 
Tenerife,  Lanzarote,  La  Gomera,  Gran  Ca- 
naria  etc.  Only  one  foundered,  LaRabida, 
the  wreckage  of  which  and  the  floating 
cargo  of  the  others  soon  found  their  way  to 
the  coast  of  Cadiz,  and  spread  everywhere 
consternation  and  the  conviction  that  all 
of  the  thirty-two  vessels  and  the  2500  souls 
on  board  of  them  had  foundered  and  per 
ished.  So  sorrow-stricken  were  King  Fer 
dinand  and  Queen  Isabella,  when  the  news 
of  the  supposed  disaster  reached  Granada, 
where  they  were  then  sojourning,  that  for 
eight  days  they  refused  to  see  a  living  soul, 
and  shut  themselves  in  their  Palace  to 
mourn  the  loss  of  so  many  of  their  subjects. 
But  order  had  been  given  the  ships  that 
should  they  be  forced  to  separate  and  suc 
ceed  in  weathering  the  storm,  to  report  at 
La  Gomera.  In  a  few  days  thirty  out  of  the 
thirty-two  ships  showed  up.  As  new  pas 
sengers  were  to  be  accommodated,  another 
vessel  was  chartered  on  the  Gran  Canaria, 


Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas.     13 

Ovando  and  tlie  young  Licenciado  arrived 
in  the  harbor  of  San  Domingo  the  i5th  of 
April  1502.  I  shall  borrow  from  Las  Casas 
himself  the  description  of  their  landing. 

"The  Spanish  settlers  of  this  city,  which 
was  then  an  unincorporated  village  located 
on  the  side  of  the  river  opposite  the  one  it 
occupies  now,  gathered  on  the  shore  re 
joicing  at  our  arrival.  As  those  on  land 
saw  and  recognized  those  on  board,  some  of 
whom  had  been  here  before,  the  new  comers 
asked  of  the  old  settlers  news  of  the  country, 
while  the  latter  desired  to  hear  the  latest 
news  of  old  Castile,  and  who  was  coming 
as  Governor.  'Good  news/  was  the 
answer  on  one  side,  'the  king  sends  to 
govern  the  Indies  the  Comendador  de 
Lares  of  the  Order  of  Alcantara,  and  old 
Castile  is  doing  well.'  And  in  response 
the  landsmen  would  say:  'The  Island  is 
doing  well,  because  much  gold  is  being 
mined.  One  nugget  was  found  worth, 
alone,  many  golden  dollars.  The  Indians 
of  a  certain  province  have  rebelled,  and 
many  will  be  made  slaves.'  I  heard  the 
words  with  my  own  ears,  because  I  came 
to  this  island  with  the  Comendador  de 
Lares,  and  on  the  same  voyage. M 

They  gave  it  as  a  piece  of  good  news  and 
as  a  cause  for  rejoicing  that  the  Indians  had 


14     Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

rebelled,  because  it  gave  them  an  oppor 
tunity  of  making  war  against  them,  and 
thus  to  make  slaves  of  them  to  be  sent  to 
and  sold  in  Castile. 

The  reader  will  before  long  be  enabled  to 
better  appreciate  the  full  meaning  of  this 
passage  of  L,as  Casas,  which  is  taken  from 
the  III.  Chapter  of  the  II.  book  of  his 
Historia  de  Las  Indias.  *) 

There  is  no  indication  that  the  L,icenciadoj 
ever  entered  the  practice  of  L,aw  or  held 
office  as  a  layman.  The  usual  methods  of 
amassing  wealth  in  the  earliest  American.; 
colonies  were  ist  rescatar  oro,  which  meant 
bartering  European  trinkets  with  the  natives 
for  their  gold ;  2d  mining,  3d  farming. 
The  first  was  followed  mostly  by  unscrupu 
lous  and  adventurous  seamen  who,  not  un- 
frequently,  made  their  commercial  expedi 
tions  on  the  islands  and  on  the  mainland 
for  the  main  purpose  of  kidnapping  Indians. 
The  second,  gold  getting,  principally 
through  the  enforced  labor  of  the  Indians, 
was  the  most  common  road  to  wealth. 
Much  attention  was  also  paid  to  the  third, 
agriculture.  It  was  the  Spaniards  who  in 
troduced  on  the  Western  Continent  all  the 


*)  Twelve  Franciscans  came  on  the  same  fleet,  with 
Alonso  de  Espinal  to  establish  the  first  Convent  or 
Monastery  in  America. 


Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas.     15 

European  produces.  The  sugar-cane,  which 
soon  became  a  prolific  source  of  wealth  for 
Hispaniola  and  Cuba,  was  brought  from 
Madeira  as  early  as  1494  by  Pedro  de 
Alienzo.  Bartolome  de  L,as  Casas  took  to 
farming  and  mining. 

In  March  1494  Christopher  Columbus 
built  the  fortress  of  San  Tomas  in  the 
mountainous  province  then  called  Cibao, 
almost  in  the  centre  of  Hispaniola.  L,as 
Casas  describes  the  locality  as  follows:  uHe 
decided  to  build  there  a  fortress  where  the 
Christians  could  dwell  in  safety  and  thence 
lord  it  over  the  neighboring  mines.  The 
site  selected  was  a  most  picturesque  one  ;  a 
hill  almost  encircled  by  a  beautiful  and 
sparkling  little  river,  the  waters  of  which 
seem  to  be  distilled,  so  clear  are  they.  The 
sounds  of  its  little  cascades  are  charming  to 
the  ear.  The  land  around  is  clear  of  brush, 
and  the  air  so  pure  and  bracing  as  to  invite 
you  to  cheerfulness  and  happiness.  The 
name  of  the  river  out  of  which  much  gold 
has  been  taken,  is  Xanique,  and  is  but  one 
of  several  in  that  province  rich  of  the  pre 
cious  metal.  There  he  caused  to  be  con 
structed  a  house  very  well  built  of  wood 
and  burnt  earth,  surrounding  it  with  a  deep , 
ditch  on  the  side  where  the  river  did  not 
protect  it.  The  house,  or  tower,  was  very 


1 6     Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

strong,  the  Indians'  means  of  assault  con 
sidered.  At  the  base  of  the  hill  on  which 
the  fortress  is  built,  is  a  level  and  beautiful 
piece  of  land,  called  by  the  natives  a  Za- 
bana.  There,  at  a  time  when  the  fortress 
had  already  been  abandoned,  I  established 
and  owned  a  farm,  before  I  entered  the 
ecclesiastical  state.  The  brook,  at  its 
junction  with  the  river,  forms  a  little  island 
of  rich  and  fertile  soil,  on  which  the  first 
onions  in  Hispaniola  were  raised  from  seeds 
imported  from  Castile."  (Historia  de  Las 
Indiasy  Book  I.  Chapter  XCI.) 

No  doubt  L,as  Casas  here  describes  his 
American  home  before  his  Ordination  to 
the  Priesthood.  He  did  not  however  usually 
reside  there  ;  for  he  says,  speaking  of  the 
administration  of  Ovando  :  "I  was  here  (in 
the  city  of  San  Domingo)  most  of  the  time 
of  his  term  of  office."  San  Tomas  stood 
3000  feet  above  sea-level,  50  or  60  miles 
south  of  Isabella  (the  first  town  built  by 
Columbus)  and  about  the  same  distance 
from  Concepcion  de  L,a  Vega,  where  he  re 
ceived  Priest's  Orders  the  first  week  in 
November  1510. 


CHAPTER  III. 
Las  Casas  a  Priest. 

pORTY-TWO  years  after  his  ordination 
L,as  Casas,  in  a  cell  of  the  Dominican 
Convent  in  the  city  of  Valladolid,  penned 
the  following  concerning  it.  "During  this 
same  year  (1510)  and  during  the  very  days 
that  Pedro  de  Cordova"  (of  him  more  anon) 
"was  at  Concepcion  de  I/a  Vega,  a  clerigo, 
by  the  name  of  Bartolome  de  L,as  Casas  of 
Seville,  one  of  the  oldest  settlers  on  this 
island,  sung  his  First  Mass,  which  was  the 
only  First  Mass  that  had  ever  been  celebrated 
in  all  these  Indies  (America),  and  for  that 
reason  was  made  the  occasion  of  prolonged 
festivities  on  the  part  of  the  Admiral, 
(Viceroy  Diego,  the  son  of  Columbus)  and 
all  those  who  were  in  the  city,  that  is,  a 
large  proportion  of  the  settlers  on  the  island. 
It  was  smelting  time,  and  great  crowds 
came  with  their  Indians  and  their  gold,  as 
they  do  in  Spain  on  a  great  market  day  or 
fair.  Gold  coins  had  not  yet  been  intro 
duced,  and  the  people  caused  to  be  coined 
or  cast  pieces  of  gold  like  counterfeit  Cas- 
tellanos  and  Ducados,  and  in  diverse  other 
2 


1 8     Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

ornamental  devises  which  they  gave  as  pre 
sents  to  the  newly  ordained  priest,  accord 
ing  to  each  one's  pleasure  and  means.  The 
mouldings  and  the  castings  were  made  in 
the  royal  smeltery  itself,  as  it  was  forbidden 
to  smelt  anywhere  else,  in  order  that 
one-fifth  of  all  the  gold  might  be  set  aside 
for  the  king  according  to  law.  Reales  * 
had  already  found  their  way  to  the  island, 
and  many  offerings  were  made  of  them  to 
the  new  priest,  who  gave  everything  to  his 
sponsors  J  except  a  few  gold  pieces  which 
he  kept  as  souvenirs,  on  account  of  the  ex 
cellence  of  their  workmanship.  A  peculiar 
circumstance  of  that  First  Mass  was  that 
during  all  the  festivities  no  toasts  were 
offered  and  not  a  drop  of  wine  was  drunk. 
None  was  to  be  had  on  the  island  because 
no  ship  had  arrived  from  Spain  in  many 
days."  (Historia  de  Las  Indias,  Book  II. 
Chapter  LIV.) 

Here  begins  the  real  biography  of  this 
remarkable  man,  who,  being  the  first  or 
dained,  has  not  yet,  as  the  reader  shall  see,  at 
the  end  of  this  nineteenth  century,  an  equal 
among  the  many  thousands  of  clergymen 

*  A  Spanish  coin  worth  twelve  and  a  half  cents  of 
our  money. 

J  In  Spain  the  custom  prevailed  of  giving  God 
fathers  or  sponsors  to  the  candidates  to  the  priest 
hood. 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.     19 

who  liave  since  lived  and  died  on  this 
Western  Continent.  Others  there  have  been 
more  sainted,  more  eloquent,  more  learned 
perhaps  ;  but,  if  the  good  accomplished,  for 
both  the  White  and  the  Red  man,  alone  be 
taken  in  consideration,  the  first  ordained 
American  Priest  stands  yet  without  a  peer. 
The  conviction  creeps  on  the  student  of 
early  American  History ,  who  dives  deeply  in 
the  original  sources  of  information  that,  had 
there  been  not  a  L,as  Casas,  and  had  he  not 
been  a  Catholic  Priest,  backed  by  as  power 
ful  a  friend  as  Charles  V.  of  Spain,  it  would 
be  doubtful  if  even  a  vestige  of  the  Ameri 
can  Indian  would  now  remain.  But  if  there 
are  now  in  Spanish  America  alone  thirty 
million  in  whose  veins  courses  aboriginal 
American  blood,  it  is  due  to  Bartolome  de 
lyas  Casas  more  than  to  any  one  else.  The 
reader  need  not  fear  that  this  biography  is 
to  take  the  form  of  a  panegyric.  Las  Casas 
was  not  a  saint  even  after  receiving  Priest's 
Orders,  although,  were  his  canonization 
left  to  the  scores  of  non-Catholic  authors 
who  wrote  of  him,  he  would  perhaps  be 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  Roman  Martyr- 
ology.  Within  two  years  from  his  ordi 
nation,  he  became  the  self-appointed  Pro 
tector  of  the  Indians  ;  and  six  years  after  he 
was  given  that  title  officially. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Social,  political  and  economical  conditions 
of  the  first  American  Colony. 

(CHRISTOPHER  Columbus  arrived  in 
Hispaniola,  on  his  second  voyage,  the 
28th  of  August  1493.  Fifteen  hundred  and 
ninety  men  accompanied  him  who  formed 
the  first  Colony.  On  landing  at  the  port  of 
Navidad  he  found  that  the  thirty-nine  com 
panions  of  his  first  voyage,  whom  he  had 
left  behind  when  he  returned  to  Spain  tc 
bring  the  news  of  his  wonderful  discovery, 
had  all  been  massacred  by  the  Indians. 
Among  these  first  fifteen  hundred  and  ninety 
European  immigrants  were  ist,  Christopher 
Columbus  himself,  Admiral  and  Commander 
in  chief  of  the  fleet,  who  came  as  Governor 
and  Viceroy  of  the  Colony,  ad,  His  brother 
Diego,  who,  on  hearing  of  the  great  dis 
covery,  had  left  in  Genoa  the  loom  and  the 
shuttle,  to  follow  his  brother  to  America. 
3d,  Antonio  Torres  who  was  second  in  com 
mand  of  the  fleet  and  first  on  the  return 
voyage.  4th,  Bernal  Dias,  who  followed 
the  expedition  as  Auditor  of  the  royal 
accounts.  5th,  Diego  Marquez  in  charge  of 

,(80) 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas.     21 

the  Quartermaster's  department.  6th,  Pedro 
de  Viilacorta  as  Treasurer,  yth,  Francisco 
de  Penalosa,  already  mentioned  above. 
8th,  Alonso  de  Vallejo,  Penalosa's  lyieuten- 
ant.  All  these  were  Grandees  of  the  Royal 
Household.  Columbus,  at  his  famous  re 
ception  at  Court  in  Barcelona  had  given  ex 
aggerated  reports  of  the  abundance  of  gold 
in  the  Indies.  The  glitter  of  the  precious 
metal  attracted  to  his  standard  hundreds  of 
noblemen  and  cavaliers,  who  had  grown 
in  arms  and  heretofore  had  lived  by  them. 
The  Moorish  wars  had  come  to  an  end  with 
the  fall  of  Granada,  January  2d,  1492,  and 
had  left  them  without  an  occupation.  The 
number  fifteen  hundred  and  ninety  men 
was  largely  made  up  of  ex-officers  of  the 
army,  and  their  retainers  fresh  from  camp- 
life  and  ready  for  any  new  and  stimulating 
adventure,  which  the  hated  Moor,  in  Spain 
at  least,  afforded  them  no  longer. 

The  new  climate,  the  arduous  manual 
labor,  which  Columbus  was  forced  to  im 
pose  on  nobleman  and  plebeian  alike, 
while  building  Isabella,  the  first  American 
town,  the  want  of  proper  shelter,  the 
scarcity  of  European  food,  soon  engendered 
an  epidemic  of  fevers,  and  the  colony  was 
decimated  again  and  again.  To  make 
matters  worse  the  coveted  gold  did  not  ap- 


22     Life  of  Bartolomti  de  Las  Casas. 

pear  in  any  great  quantity  for  several  years, 
and  nearly  all  the  surviving  colonists  clam 
ored  to  return  to  Spain  on  every  ship  that 
sailed  from  Hispaniola.  Many  did  return 
between  the  years  1493  an(^  I49&  ;  some  on 
three  vessels  that  brought  Bartholomew,  the 
other  brother  of  Columbus  to  America  dur 
ing  the  middle  part  of  the  year  1494,  some 
others,  about  two  hundred  in  numbers,  on 
the  two  caravels  that  brought  back  Chris 
topher  Columbus  from  his  second  voyage, 
and  not  less  than  three  hundred  towards 
the  end  of  1498. 

Emigration  to  America  between  1494  and 
1500  was  unpopular  and,  to  maintain  the 
settlement  of  Hispaniola.  king  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  felt  compelled  to  order,  by  a 
decree  dated  the  loth  of  April  1495,  that 
not  less  than  three  hundred  persons  should 
remain  on  the  island  in  the  pay  of  the 
Crown.  Another  decree,  dictated  at  the 
suggestion  of  Columbus  himself,  and  dated 
the  22d  of  June  1497,  granted  pardon  to  all 
criminals  then  in  the  jails  of  Spain,  with 
few  exceptions,  who  would  consent  to  work, 
under  the  direction  and  at  the  expense  of 
the  Admiral  of  the  Indies,  two  years,  if 
under  sentence  of  death,  and  one  year  if 
convicted  of  a  non-capital  crime.  All  judges 
of  the  kingdom  were  also  instructed  to  ship 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.     23 

to  Hispaniola  the  criminals  found  guilty  of 
crimes  deserving  exile  or  hard  labor  in  the 
mines.  But,  notwithstanding  all  these  pro 
visions,  and  perhaps  on  account  of  them, 
there  were  not  in  Hispaniola  or  any  where  else 
in  America,  more  than  three  hundred  white 
settlers  at  the  dawn  of  the  sixteenth  cen 
tury.  Of  them  Christopher  Columbus,  in  a 
letter  written  at  the  end  of  the  year  1500, 
says:  "In  Hispaniola  there  are  very  few, 
who  are  not  vagabonds,  and  nobody  has  a 
wife  or  a  family. n  They  lived  in  open  con 
cubinage  with  Indian  women,  and  de 
bauched  them  whenever  their  unrestrained 
lust  prompted  them  to.  Of  the  helpless 
natives  they  recognized  no  right.  A  blot 
on  the  fair  name  of  the  discoverer  of  America 
himself  is  the  fact,  that  he  conceived  the 
idea  and  attempted  to  carry  it  out,  of  filling 
his  own  and  his  royal  master's  coffers  by 
the  partial  enslavement  of  its  aboriginal 
inhabitants. 

The  famous  Genoese  navigator  and  hits 
brothers  did  not  prove  successful  rulers  over 
the  lawless  and  heterogeneous  band  of 
Spanish  adventurers,  who  feared  neither 
God  nor  man  ;  and  the  settlement,  between 
the  year  1494  and  1500,  was  almost  con 
stantly  in  a  state  of  revolt  and  semi-anarchy. 
Francisco  Roldan,  with  his  seventy  or 


24     Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

eighty  followers,  successfully  defied  the 
authority  of  Columbus,  and,  during  his 
absence,  of  his  brothers  Bartholomew  and 
Diego,  for  not  less  than  four  years.  Fear 
ing  to  loose  the  wavering  allegiance  of  the 
other  colonists,  the  unhappy  world-finder 
adopted  the  policy  of  condoning  their  thefts, 
their  oppressions,  and  even  their  murders 
of  the  Indians. 

During  the  two  first  years  of  the  sixteenth 
century  gold  began  to  be  gathered  in  pay 
ing  quantities  and  more  settlers  were  at 
tracted  from  Spain  to  Hispaniola.  Towards 
the  end  of  1507  it  had  become  possible  to 
establish  a  new  settlement,  under  the  leader 
ship  of  Juan.  Ponce  de  L,eon,  on  the  island, 
which  he  named  San  Juan  (St.  John)  and 
which  is  now  known  as  Porto  Rico  from 
its  principal  harbor.  In  1509  two  new 
Colonies  were  established  on  the  main-land 
aggregating  one  thousand  men  ;  one  by 
Diego  de  Nicuesa  in  the  province  of  Veragua 
north  of  the  gulf  and  river  Darien,  the 
other  by  Alonso  de  Ojeda  on  the  gulf  of 
Uraba  south  of  Darien,  which,  by  mutual 
agreement,  became  the  dividing  line  of  the 
respective  settlements  of  which,  by  royal 
decree,  they  were  made  governors.  A  few 
Spaniards,  during  the  same  year,  also  took 
possession  of  the  island  of  Jamaica,  over 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.     25 

which  Ojeda  and  Nicuesa  were  to  exercise 
joint  jurisdiction,  and  use  it  as  their  common 
base  of  supplies. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Relations  between  the  First  European 
Settlers  and  the  Indians. 


understand  the  mission  and  the  life- 
work  of  Las  Casas  it  is  necessary  to  form 
a  correct  idea  of  the  relations,  existing  at  the 
time  of  his  ordination,  between  the  two 
races,  the  white  intruder  and  the  helpless 
aboriginal  American.  It  has  already  been 
said  how  thirty  nine  of  Columbus'  com 
panions,  on  his  first  voyage,  had  been 
massacred  by  the  Indians.  Why  ?  Because 
they  had  debauched  their  wives  and  their 
sisters,  and  stolen  their  property.  Colum 
bus  had  wisely  allowed  their  death  to 
remain  unrevenged.  But  by  the  be 
ginning  of  1494,  the  Spaniards,  having 
already  realized  the  weakness  and  help 
lessness  of  the  natives,  and  built  here 
and  there  on  the  island  a  few  fortresses, 
Mosen  Pedro  Margarite  was  sent  out 
with  four  hundred  men  to  explore  and 
subjugate  it.  Three  Spaniards  one  day 
were  on  their  way  from  the  Fortress  San 
Tornas  to  Isabella,  accompanied  by  five 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.     27 

Indians,  who  had  been  assigned  by  their 
Cacique  to  carry  their  baggage.  The  eight 
travellers  were  in  the  water,  crossing  a 
river,  when  the  five  Americans  abandoned 
the  three  Europeans  and  made,  with  the 
latter's  baggage,  for  their  native  village. 
The  Cacique,  instead  of  punishing  the 
offenders,  kept  the  coveted  European  goods 
for  himself ;  and  Ojeda  avenged  the  theft 
by  causing  the  ears  of  one  of  the  offenders 
to  be  cut  off  publicly,  and  the  Cacique  and 
his  nephew  to  be  sent  in  irons  to  Columbus 
at  Isabella.  The  Admiral  condemned  them 
promptly  to  death,  but  later  yielded  to  the 
entreaties  of  another  friendly  Cacique  and 
set  them  free.  During  the  imprisonment 
of  the  guilty  chief  a  Spanish  horseman 
chanced  to  pass  through  his  village  where 
he  found  five  of  his  countrymen  surrounded 
by  hundreds  of  Indians,  ready  to  put  them 
to  death.  At  the  appearance  of  the  man 
on  horseback  the  naked  Indians,  as  usual, 
took  to  their  heels  ;  but  in  the  scrimmage 
some  were  wounded,  others  killed  by  the 
Castilian  steel. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  four  hundred 
Spaniards  in  the  interior  of  the  island  began 
to  help  themselves  to  whatever  the  Indians 
possessed;  provisions  to  eat,  women  to 
abuse,  and  young  men  to  press  them  into 


28     Life  ofBartolome  de  Las  Casas. 

their  menial  services.  Meanwhile  Columbus 
had  gone  on  a  voyage  of  discovery.  Mar- 
garite,  disgusted  with  the  conduct  of  his 
superiors,  abandoned  his  command,  re 
turned  to  Isabella  and  thence  to  Spain.  His 
men  scattered  hither  and  thither  in  groups 
to  become  the  scourge  of  the  native  islan 
ders.  Then  followed  the  rebellion  of  Rol- 
dan,  whose  men  outlawed  by  the  colonial 
authorities,  lived  for  four  years  of  theft  and 
rapine.  The  Indians,  from  believing  them 
men  from  Heaven,  began  to  look  upon  the 
new  comers  as  their  persecutors  and  as  the 
personification  of  wickedness  and  cruelty. 
Reprisals  followed,  and  woe  to  the  Spaniard 
who  chanced  to  be  surprised  alone  or 
unprotected.  Not  a  few  of  the  colonists 
perished  at  the  hands  of  the  natives,  who 
rose  in  arms  all  over  the  island  against  the 
intruders. 

Ojeda,  by  a  treacherous  stratagem  inveig 
led  from  his  dominions  Caonabo  thebravest 
and  most  powerful  Indian  chief  to  Isabella. 
His  treachery  fired  the  heart  of  the  red 
men,  who  determined  to  wipe  out  from 
their  country  the  pale-faced  strangers.  But 
they  were  naked,  and  their  arrows  proved 
almost  inoffensive  against  the  shields,  the 
lances  and  the  fire-arms  of  the  Spaniards. 
One  man  on  horseback  and  in  armor  could 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.     29 

safely  dasli  through  the  serried  ranks  of 
thousands  of  Indians  and  slaughter  them 
right  and  left  by  the  hundred.  To  pacify  (  ?  ) 
the  land,  Columbus,  on  his  return,  ordered 
a  cruel  war  of  extermination.  The  rule 
was  then  adopted  that  for  every  European 
killed  by  the  Indians,  one  hundred  of  these 
should  perish.  Some  six  hundred  so  called 
prisoners  of  war  w^ere  captured  and  were 
ready  to  be  shipped  to  Spain  to  be  sold  as 
slaves.  The  unfortunate  Caonabo  was  al 
ready  on  board  of  one  of  the  vessels  when 
a  tempest  arose  and  engulfed  the  entire 
flotilla  and  the  helpless  Indian  chief  with  it. 
It  was  then  (1495)  that  the  Spaniards  used 
for  the  first  time  against  the  Indians  what 
Las  Casas  calls  (Historia  de  las  Indias 
Ch.  CIV.  Book  I.)  "the  diabolical  in 
vention",  the  blood-hounds.  Twenty  of 
these  were  let  loose  like  wolves  amongst  a 
flock  of  lambs  and  thousands  of  the  terror 
ized  Americans  were  torn  to  pieces.  The 
land  was  pacified ;  that  is,  the  Indians  in 
despair  bent  their  necks  to  the  yoke  of  the 
Spaniards. 

Tributes  of  gold  were  then  levied  on 
every  person  above  14  years  of  age  so  ex 
orbitant,  that  the  Islanders,  who  possessed 
no  appliances  for  mining  it,  found  it  im 
possible  to  gather  it  from  beds  of  rivers  in 


30     Life  of  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas. 

sufficient  quantities  to  pay  them.  In  des 
pair  they  abandoned  their  villages,  their 
homes  and  their  farms,  and  took  to  the 
mountains.  Pursued  by  the  horsemen  and 
the  blood-hounds  they  perished  by  the 
thousands  of  hunger  and  want.  But  mean 
while  the  Spaniards  themselves  saw  their 
own  numbers  thinned  out  year  after  year, 
by  sickness,  hunger  and  the  Indians.  Dis 
satisfaction  soon  became  general.  The 
acquired  habits  of  dissoluteness  and  of  roam 
ing  about  the  island  pillaging  the  Indians, 
and  their  consequent  idleness  made  farming 
distasteful,  and  even  impossible.  Two  years 
experience  had  proved  that  the  tributes  of 
gold,  even  though  they  caused  thousands  of 
the  natives  to  perish,  could  not  be  collected. 
It  was  at  this  juncture  that  Columbus,  to 
provide  for  the  starving  European  colonists, 
laid  the  foundation  of  what,  later  under 
Bobadilla  (between  1500  and  1502),  be 
came  known  as  the  Hepartimientos .  The 
tributes  of  gold  having  failed,  he  levied 
new  ones  in  the  form  of  enforced  labor  in 
tilling  siifficient  fields  or  farms  to  support 
the  garrisons  and  the  Spanish  settlers. 
Roldan,  during  his  rebellion,  had  tasted 
the  sweets  of  slavery,  that  is,  had  gotten  in 
the  habit  of  forcing  the  Indians  to  do  for 
himself  and  for  his  followers  any  and  all 


Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas.     31 

kinds  of  labor.  Coaxed  into  submission, 
but  still  a  standing  menace  to  the  already 
weakened  authority  of  the  Admiral,  he 
asked  for  permission  to  impress  the  subjects 
of  Chief  Behechio  into  the  enforced  labor 
of  working  the  fields  for  the  sustenance 
of  himself  and  his  followers.  "Fearing, 
for  good  reasons,  a  new  rebellion, "  Colum 
bus  yielded.  "Then,"  to  use  the  words 
of  lyas  Casas,  "those  who  had  remained 
faithful  to  the  Admiral,  as  well. as  the 
followers  of  Roldan,  especially  when  they 
began  to  settle  down  and  to  form  Pueblos 
(villages),  each  one,  the  herdsman,  the 
branded  criminal,  and  he,  who  for  his 
crimes  had  been  exiled  from  Castile,  began 
to  ask  that  this  or  that  Cacique  with  his 
people  be  assigned  to  work  his  farms." 
The  Admiral  yielded  again  and  "in  a 
month  the  branded  criminal  and  the  exile 
became  the  masters  of  the  lords  or  kings 
of  the  land."  Columbus  went  farther.  It 
is  painful  to  translate  the  following  letter 
of  the  Discoverer  of  America  ;  "but,"  says 
Las  Casas,  "these  are  his  words": 

"May  it  please  Your  Majesties  to  allow 
that  these  people  (the  Indians)  may  be 
made  use  of,  for  a  year  or  two  until  this 
business  (of  colonization)  be  placed  on  a 
good  footing  ;  it  begins  to  do  better  already, 


32     Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

as  both  tlie  seamen  and  nearly  all  the 
landsmen  are  now  satisfied.  Two  or  three 
ship -masters  are  here  ready  to  bind  them 
selves  to  take  to  Seville,  at  their  own  ex 
pense,  slaves,  for  the  consideration  of  1500 
maravedies  a  head,  to  be  paid  out  of  the 
proceeds  of  their  sale.  The  proposition 
pleased  everybody,  and  I  pledged  myself 
on  account  of  everybody  else  to  furnish  the 
cargo.  They  (the  ship-masters)  will  return 
and  bring  provisions  and  other  necessary 
things.  Thus  this  business  (the  coloni 
zation  of  Hispaniola)  will  improve.  It  is 
now  in  bad  shape,  because  the  people  (the 
whites)  refuse  to  work,  and  the  Indians  do 
not  pay  tribute. " 

The  kings  of  Spain  were  also  informed 
that  all  the  Spaniards  preferred  already  to 
settle  down  on  their  own  account  to  re 
maining  in  the  service  and  in  the  pay  of 
the  King.  To  the  credit  of  the  Genoese 
mariner  it  must  be  said  that  he  never  in 
tended  to  permanently  enslave  the  Indians, 
and  that  those  who  were  to  be  sent  to  Spain 
were  the  so-called  prisoners  of  war. 

Bobadilla,  his  persecutor,  who  was  his 
immediate  successor  in  the  governorship  of 
the  Island,  to  please  the  Spaniards,  assigned 
to  all  of  them  Indians,  and  these  allotments 
of  Indians  became  known  as  Mepartimien- 


Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas.     33 

toSy  which  later  took  the  more  euplionious 
name  of  Encomiendas .  Under  Ovando  the 
infamous  system  cast  deeper  roots,  and,  so 
to  speak,  became  indigenous  to  the  soil. 
In  1514  the  office  of  Repartidor  was  created. 
His  business  was  to  Repartir,  that  is,  to 
parcel  or  reparcel  out  the  Indians  amongst 
the  Spaniards. 

Thus  a  murderous  form  of  slavery  was 
established  in  the  Antilles,  which  ended  in 
their  almost  total  depopulation  in  the  course 
of  a  few  years.  It  was  never  legalized  and 
this  was  its  worst  feature.  Except  in  the 
case  of  prisoners  of  war  or  of  true  or  sup 
posed  cannibals,  the  Indians  never  became 
the  property  of  the  Spaniards,  and  could 
not  legally  be  sold.  They  were  given  or 
taken  away  at  the  will,  before  the  year 
1514,  of  the  Governor,  and  after  that  date, 
of  the  Repartidor.  It  was  therefore  in  the 
interest  of  the  white  master  to  make  the 
most  of  his  Indians'  labor  on  the  farm  or 
in  the  mine,  while  they  were  in  his  posses 
sion.  If  they  died  under  the  lash,  of  star 
vation  or  of  overwork,  he  lost  nothing,  but 
could  call  for  more  if  influential  with  the 
Governor  or  the  Repartidor.  Had  they 
been  his  property  it  would  have  been  his 
interest  to  look  after  their  bodily  wants  in 
order  to  preserve  what  represented  so  much 

wealth. 
3 


34     Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

Meanwhile  it  was  believed  by  the  rulers 
of  Spain  that  their  untutored  American  sub 
jects  were  only  paying  a  reasonable  tribute 
or  tax,  in  work  instead  of  cash.  I^as  Casas7 
writings,  and  those  of  his  contemporaries 
on  early  American  history,  are  full  of  royal 
decrees  issued  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella, 
and  by  Charles  V.  in  favor  and  for  the 
protection  of  their  transatlantic  subjects. 
Unfortunately  their  authority  in  the  west 
ern  World,  during  the  first  fifty  years  after 
its  discovery,  was  scarcely  more  than  a 
shadow.  The  will  of  the  adventurer,  the 
conquistador,  exile  or  criminal  was  the  only 
law  protecting  the  natives. 

Gold  having  been  discovered  in  many 
places  in  Hispaniola,  gold-hunters  from 
Spain  began  to  cross  the  Atlantic  in  in 
creasing  numbers.  But  the  morals  of  the 
colony  were  scarely  improved  thereby,  al 
though  an  occasional  good  man  emigrated 
to  America.  It  soon  became  proverbial  in 
the  Spanish  Peninsula  that  only  ad 
venturers,  outlaws  and  thieves  passed  to 
the  Indies.  These  on  their  arrival  found 
it  but  natural  to  adapt  themselves  to  their 
new  surroundings  and  to  endeavor  to  get 
rich  by  oppressing  the  Indians. 

During  the  first  decade  of  the  sixteenth 
century  numerous  mines  were  established 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.     35 

in  Hispaniola,  and  in  these  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  Indians  were  cast  to  work  and 
to  perish  under  the  lash,  or  of  want  and  ex 
haustion.  Their  brutal  task-masters  looked 
upon  them  as  little  more  than  beasts  of 
burden  and  were  merciless. 

The  West-Indian  Islanders,  unlike  their 
brothers  of  the  Continent,  were  not  war 
like.  The  nature  of  their  country's  climate 
made  it  unnecessary  to  wear  any  clothing; 
Palm  leaves,  reeds  and  straw  afforded  them 
what  shelter  was  needed ;  the  forests  an 
abundance  of  fruits,  the  rivers  and  the  sur 
rounding  ocean  their  fish,  and  the  cazabe 
or  cassaba  plant  and  maiz  their  bread. 
Only  the  last  named  articles  required  any 
cultivation  at  all.  Their  lives  were  there 
fore  spent  in  idleness,  and  their  bodies  under 
the  influence  of  a  tropical  sun,  had  grown 
delicate,  undeveloped,  and  unfit  for  manual 
labor.  Hence  the  confinement  and  the 
work  of  the  mines  proved  to  them  unbear 
able  and  fatal.  They  died  by  the  thou 
sands,  and  the  survivors  often  preferred 
death  to  the  galling  yoke  of  the  bearded  in 
truder.  "The  pay,"  says  L,as  Casas, 
" which  they  (the  Spaniards)  gave  the 
wretches  (the  Indians)  for  their  uninter 
rupted  labor,  were  the  lash  and  the  stick, 
and  scarcely  a  word  did  they  address  to 


36    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

them  if  it  was  not  to  call  them  Dogs.  And 
would  to  God  that  they'd  treat  them  as  well 
as  their  dogs.  They  would  not  kill  one  of 
these  for  a  thousand  Castellanos,  whereas 
they  think  no  more  of  killing  ten  or  twenty 
Indians  for  a  pastime  or  to  test  the  sharp 
ness  of  their  swords,  whenever  their  whims 
prompt  them  to,  than  if  the  poor  creatures 
were  cats.  Two  boys  twelve  years  of  age, 
were  each  the  possesssor  of  a  parrot.  Two 
other  individuals,  who  called  themselves 
Christians,  took  the  birds  away  from  the 
children,  and  then,  as  if  for  amusement, 
cut  their  (the  children's)  heads  off.  An 
other  tyrant,  annoyed  by  a  Cacique,  who 
had  failed  to  give  all  that  the  white  man 
had  asked  for,  hanged  12  of  his  Indians 
and  1 8  others  in  one  and  the  same  house. 
Another  condemned  an  Indian  to  be  shot 
to  death  with  arrows  because,  he  said,  he 
had  been  slow  in  delivering  a  letter  of 
which  he  was  the  carrier.  Of  similar  deeds 
perpetrated  by  our  Christians  the  number  is 

infinite n      uTliey  were  the  work, 

rather  than  of  men,  of  devils  incarnate." 
I^as  Casas  here  describes  the  condition  of 
the  Indians  under  Bobadilla,  during  the 
years  1500  to  1502.  The  300  brutalized 
criminal  white  men  on  the  Island  had 
grown  accustomed  to  look  upon  the  na- 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  (Jasas.     37 

lives,  not  as  their  fellowmen  but  as  beasts, 
useful  only  for  the  labor  they  were  able  to 
perform. 

Their  lot  did  not  much  improve  under 
Governor  Ovando,  during  whose  regime 
and  that  of  Diego  Columbus,  the  son  of  the 
Discoverer,  a  vast  majority  of  the  natives, 
to  the  number  of  several  hundred  thou 
sands,  if  not  a  full  million,  perished.  The 
inhabitants  of  Porto  Rico  and  of  Jamaica 
met  with  the  same  fate  at  about  the  same 
time.  Those  of  the  Bahama  Islands  to  the 
number  of  forty  thousands  (Pedro  Martyr 
Decada  VII.)  were  kidnapped  from  their 
homes  and  brought  to  Hispaniola  to  work 
in  the  mines  where  they  too  perished  and 
disappeared. 

In  Cuba  the  general  hecatomb  took  place 
a  decade  of  years  later.  A  sad  phenomenon 
took  place  there,  which,  as  far  as  I  know, 
has  no  parallel  in  the  annals  of  mankind. 
Having  been  taught  by  experience  that  re 
sistance  to  the  Spaniards  was  futile  and 
flight  from  them  impossible,  the  Indians 
fell  a  prey  to  sullen  despair  and  to  a  mania 
for  suicide.  u Whole  families  would  hang 
themselves,  fathers  and  sons,  young  and 
old,  adult  and  children.  The  villagers  of 
one  Pueblo  would  invite  those  of  another 
to  hang  themselves  together  in  order  to 


38     Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

escape  their  uninterrupted  woes  and  tor 
ments.  They  believed  that  after  death 
they  would  live  another  life  somewhere 
else  that  would  afford  them  perfect  rest .  .  . 
So  great  was  the  number  of  those  who 
became  affected  with  this  mania  of  hanging 
themselves,  that  the  Spaniards  began  to 
realize  that  they  had  overdone  their  work, 
and  to  grieve  over  their  cruelties,  because 
they  saw  that  soon  there  would  be  nobody 
left  to  be  killed  in  the  mines  ....  A 
Spanish  master  saw  the  Indians  of  his  Re- 
partimiento,  heart-broken  and  in  despair, 
leave  their  quarters,  or  the  mines,  and  on 
their  way  to  their  native  village  fully  de 
termined  there  to  hang  themselves  all  to 
gether.  Having  surmised  their  intention, 
he  appeared  in  their  midst  when  they  were 
getting  their  ropes  ready,  and  assuming  as 
much  earnestness'  as  he  could  ;  "look  me 
up  a  good  rope,"  he  said,  UI  want  to  hang 
myself  along  with  you  ;  why  should  I  live 
without  you,  who  make  my  living  and  mine 
my  gold  ?  I  wish  to  go  with  you  that  I  may 
not  be  deprived  of  what  you  do  for  me." 
They,  thinking,  that  even  after  death,  they 
could  not  rid  themselves  of  him,  and  that, 
in  the  hereafter,  he  would  continue  to  lord 
it  over  and  oppress  them,  agreed  not  to  kill 
themselves  then,  but  to  postpone  their  own 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas.     39 

execution."  (Hist.  De  Las  Ind.  Book  III. 
Ch.  L.) 

The  natives  of  the  Bahama  Archipelago 
were  naturally  great  swimmers.  To  kidnap 
them  in  shiploads  and  sell  them  into  slavery 
was  no  extraordinary  occupation  of  the 
early  American  Colonists.  At  first  the 
Bahamians  sold  for  four  and  five  dollars  a 
head.  But  the  discovery  of  the  pearl  fish 
eries  sent  up  their  price  to  $100  and  to 
$150.  Those  who  did  not  die  in  the  mines 
of  Hispaniola,  found  watery  graves  around 
the  little  Island  of  Cubagua,  on  the  pearl 
coast,  where  they  were  employed  as  divers. 
It  is  refreshing  to  meet  with  an  occasional 
good  man  among  the  earliest  American 
settlers.  Pedro  de  I^a  Isla  was  one  of 
them.  He  was  wealthy,  and  lived  as  a  re 
tired  merchant  in  the  capital  city  of  San 
Domingo.  It  was  his  desire  to  prevent  the 
utter  extinction  of  the  aboriginal  race  of 
Bahamians;  and,  with  that  end  in  view,  he 
provisioned  abundantly  a  caravel  and  sent 
it  with  eight  or  nine  sailors  to  search  the 
forty  or  fifty  islands.  They  were  instructed 
to  take  on  board  the  few  wretches,  who 
might  have  escaped  the  grasp  of  the  kid 
nappers.  Pedro's  intention  was  to  colonize 
the  Islanders  into  a  pueblo  where  they  could 
live  in  perfect  liberty  and  peace.  Three 


40     Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

years  were  spent  in  the  undertaking  ;  but, 
when  the  caravel  put  in  the  port  of  Plata, 
only  eleven  Indians  were  landed.  So 
thoroughly  had  the  sea-faring  marauders 
done  their  work.  Pedro  de  L,a  Isla  died  a 
Franciscan  Friar. 

During  the  year  1518  smallpox  was  im 
ported,  from  Spain,  into  Hispaniola  ;  and  of 
the  Indians,  who  had  survived  the  works  of 
the  mines  and  the  tyranny  of  the  white 
settlers^  a  few  thousand  only  escaped  its 
ravages.  Thus  in  less  than  half  a  century 
from  the  advent  of  the  white  man,  the 
inhabitants  of  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  Hi 
spaniola,  Jamaica  and  the  Bahamas  had 
disappeared,  and  to-day  it  is  doubtful  if  a 
single  full  blooded  aboriginal  of  those  is 
lands  is  to  be  found. 

It  was  L,as  Casas'  mission  to  stem  the 
torrent  of  bloodshed  and  murder,  which 
threatened  to  devastate  and  depopulate  the 
American  continent  as  it  did  the  American 
islands. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Catholic  Clergy  in  the  earliest  American 
Colonies. 


pictures  we  meet  with  occasionally 
in  school  books,  representing  Christopher 
Columbus  in  the  act  of  taking  possession 
of  the  Western  world  in  the  name  of  the 
kings  of  Spain,  with  Rev.  Father  Juan 
Perez  or  some  other  priest  at  his  side, 
may  be  edifying,  but  do  not  express 
historical  truth.  It  cannot  be  proved  and 
it  is  not  true  that  a  clegyman  accom 
panied  the  World-finder  on  his  first  voyage 
of  discovery. 

The  sacrament  of  Baptism  was  ad 
ministered,  for  the  first  time,  to  ab 
original  Americans,  in  Barcelona,  to  the 
seven  Indians  brought  by  Columbus  to 
Spain  on  his  first  voyage.  King  Fer 
dinand  and  his  son  John  were  their 
godfathers.  Then  was  forged  the  first 
link  of  the  chain  that  united  religi 
ously  the  New  to  the  Old  World,  where- 

(41) 


42      Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

by   America    entered    the    Communion   of 
Saints. 

Three  or  four  Secular  priests  accompa 
nied  Columbus  on  his  second  expedition. 
I  have  been  .unable  to  ascertain  their 
names.  Some  Franciscan  Friars  also 
came  at  the  same  time,  priests  and  lay- 
brothers.  One  of  the  priests  was  named 
Father  Remis,  or  Remigius.  Of  the 
two  lay  -  brothers,  one  was  named  Juan 
de  L,a  Duela  surnamed  the  Bermejo  (the 
red,  from  his  ruddy  complexion),  and 
the  other  Juan  de  Tisin.  These  were 
well  read  and  lettered  men,  who,  it  was 
understood,  had  refused,  through  humility, 
to  receive  priest's  orders.  These  first 
Franciscans  were  not  Spaniards  but  French 
men  from  Picardy,  and  they  came  to 
America,  I^as  Casas  assures  us,  through 
pure  zeal,  to  evangelize  the  natives.  Re 
migius,  after  laboring  several  years  in 
Hispaniola  and  in  Cuba,  returned  to 
Europe,  and  through  the  influence  of 
Cardinal  Ximenes  (who  was  a  Francis 
can),  obtained  permission  to  bring  with 
him  to  America,  about  the  year  1514, 
fourteen  other  Franciscans,  all  French 
men  from  Picardy.  As  we  shall  see, 
these  French  Fathers  established  the 


Life  of  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas.      43 

first  house  of  their  Order  on  the 
American  continent,  in  the  Indian 
village  of  Cumana  on  the  coast  of 
Venezuela. 

The  famous  Father  Biiil  came  as  the 
Ordinary  of  the  first  American  colony 
with  full  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction.  He 
was  a  Benedictine  Monk  from  the  kingdom 
of  Aragon,  and,  as  L,as  Casas  surmises, 
the  Abbot  of  a  monastery  at  the  time 
of  his  appointment,  which  was  made  by 
Pope  Alexander  VI.  at  the  request  of  king 
Ferdinand. 

He  was  the  first  American  Vicar 
Apostolic,  but  was  not  a  Bishop,  as 
the  following  from  the  Papal  Bull  of 
appointment  plainly  shows :  ' '  Tibi,  qui 

presbiter    es accedendi    et   inibi 

quamdm  volueris  commorandi,  plenam, 
liberam  et  omnimodam  facultatem  con- 
cedimns  pariter  et  elargimur."  The 
Holy  Father  also  left  him  free  to  re 
turn  to  Spain  whenever  he  wished  to, 
provided  he  transferred  the  faculties  re 
ceived  to  some  other  Priest,  who  accom 
panied  him  to  America. 

Biiil  remained  in  America  not  more 
than  ten  months,  and  returned  to  Spain 
with  Mosen  Pedro  Margarite.  He  had 


44     Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

not  been  in  Hispaniola  many  days  when 
disagreements  arose  between  himself  and 
Christopher  Columbus  and  his  brothers. 
Hernandez  de  Oviedo,  a  contemporary 
historian,  says  (although  L,as  Casas  dis 
credits  his  statements)  that  during  those 
dissensions  Biiil  suspended  all  the  divine 
offices  in  the  Colony  to  bring  Columbus 
to  terms,  and  that  the  latter,  as  a  re 
prisal  deprived  Biiil  and  the  members  of 
his  household  of  their  daily  rations.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  certain  it  is  that  on 
his  return  to  Spain,  he  endeavored,  by 
misrepresentations,  to  discredit  Columbus 
and  his  undertaking.  L,as  Casas  leaves 
us  not  in  doubt  that  he,  Mosen  Pedro 
Margarite  and  their  disgruntled  par 
tisans  were  at  the  root  of  the  ultimate 
downfall  of  the  discoverer  of  America. 
His  name  would  never  have  been  pre 
served  to  history  were  it  not  for  his 
associations  with  the  Genoese  mariner. 
The  name  has  been  twisted  into  Boil, 
Boyle  and  Boile  to  make  an  Irishman  of 
him.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he  was  a 
Benedictine  Monk  bred  and  born  in  the 
kingdom  of  Aragon  ;  but  Spanish  or  Irish, 
his  name  will  never  shed  much  lustre  on 
either  nation. 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.     45 

The  first  priests  came  to  the  New  World 
well  provided  with  vestments,  chalices  and 
all  other  articles  necessary  to  the  celebra 
tion  of  the  divine  offices.  The  chasuble, 
used  by  the  priest,  who  said  the  first  Mass 
in  America,  was  given,  out  of  her  royal 
chapel,  by  Queen  Isabella.  It  did  service 
for  many  years,  and  L,as  Casas  pathetically 
remarks,  that,  when  too  old  to  be  used  any 
longer,  it  continued  to  be  preserved  almost 
as  carefully  as  if  it  was  a  relic,  "because 
of  its  being  the  gift  of  the  beloved  Catholic 
Queen  and  the  first  brought  to  the  Indies. n 

Every  vessel,  sailing  from  Spain  for  Hi- 
spaniola  between  the  years  1493  and  1510, 
carried  at  least  one  clergyman  either  as 
chaplain  or  to  remain  in  the  Colonies.  At 
least  one  Franciscan  accompanied  Bobadilla 
to  Hispaniola,  Father  Juan  de  Trasierra. 
Neither  he  however,  nor  the  French  Fathers, 
who  had  arrived  in  1493,  crossed  the  ocean 
for  the  fixed  purpose  of  founding  a  convent 
of  their  Order  in  America.  This  was  done 
by  Father  Alonzo  de  Espinal,  who  accom 
panied  by  twelve  other  Friars,  all  Spaniards, 
arrived  in  Hispaniola  with  Ovando  in  1502. 
Their  first  convent  was  founded  in  the 
City  of  San  Domingo.  In  1510  the  Fran 
ciscans  possessed  already  another  house  in 
or  near  Concepcion  de  L,a  Vega  composed 


46     Life  of  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas. 

of  eight  Friars ;  and  a  third  one  in  the  Pro 
vince  of  Xaragua,  in  the  town  which  they 
called  Vera  Paz. 

Alas  !  they  too  had  their  Repartimientos 
of  Indians,  not  indeed  in  their  own  name, 
but  in  that  of  a  layman,  who  made  some 
$5000  a  year  out  of  the  slaves,  and  gave 
enough  to  support  the  Friars  according  to 
their  rule  and  vow  of  poverty.  The  tithes 
of  the  church  having  been  ceded  by  Alex 
ander  VI.  to  the  Crown,  the  secular  priests 
and  their  churches  were  supported  by  the 
kings  as  long  as  there  were  no  Episcopal 
Sees  in  existence.  Wherever  a  settlement 
of  Spaniards  was  made,  a  priest  was  as 
signed  to  act  as  its  parish  priest,  with  a 
salary  of  $100  a  year.*) 

We  know  of  three  substantial  churches 
begun  and  partially  built  by  Columbus  him 
self  ;  one  at  Isabella  which  was  probably 
never  finished,  because  that  settlement  was 
soon  abandoned  ;  another  at  Concepcion  de 
La  Vega,  where  he  desired  to  be  buried, 
and  a  third  one  at  San  Domingo,  t) 

*)  Between  the  years  1500  and  1560  gold  depre 
ciated  in  value  1000  %  owing  to  the  large  treasures 
of  the  3'ellow  metal  found  in  possession  of  the  Incas 
of  Peru  and  the  rich  mines  discovered  almost  every 
where  in  America.  The  purchasing  power  of  gold 
in  1560  was  yet  five  times  greater  than  it  is  now,  so 
that  the  earliest  American  priests  were  paid  a  salary 
equivalent  to  $1500  of  to  day. 

$)  The   church  built  by  Christopher  Columbus  at 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.     47 

But  generally  tlie  so-called  churches, 
during  the  first  twenty  years  of  American 
colonization,  were  nothing  more  than  a  few 
rough-hewn  timbers  stuck  in  the  ground 
with  over  them  a  strawthatched  roof. 

Before  the  ordination  of  L,as  Casas  scarce 
ly  a  voice  was  raised  by  either  Regular 
or  Secular  clergy  against  the  enslavement' 
of  the  Indians.  He  tells  us  how  everybody 
(including  himself)  was  blind  about  that 
great  sin.  The  evil  had  cast  deep  roots 
even  in  the  Court  of  Spain,  and  corruption 
in  office  was  rampant  during  the  last  years 
of  king  Ferdinand's  reign. 

Don  Juan  de  Fonseca,  whom  we  shall 
frequently  meet  in  the  course  of  this  work, 
was  bishop  of  Burgos,  (though  residing  at 
Court)  a  Privy  Councillor  to  their  Majesties, 
and,  for  many  years,  head  as  we  would  say 
now-a-days,  of  the  bureau  for  Indian  affairs. 
"This  Don  Juan  de  Fonseca,"  says  Las 
Casas,  "although  an  ecclesiastic,  an  Arch 
deacon  first,  then  Bishop  of  Badajoz,  then 
of  Palencia,  and  last  of  Burgos,  was  very 
skillful  in  the  management  of  worldly  affairs, 


San  Domingo  has  disappeared  altogether.  But 
the  Cathedral  of  that  city,  begun  during  the  govern 
orship  of  T3iego  Columbus  in  1514  is  the  oldest 
church  in  America  and  yet  one  of  the  finest.  It  is 
famous  as  the  burial  place  of  the  Columbuses, 
father,  son  and  grandson. 


48     Life  ofBartolom£  de  Las  Casas. 

especially  in  gathering  armies  to  fight  on 
the  sea,  a  business  better  befitting  the 
sailors  of  Biscay  than  a  bishop.  Hence 
the  Kings,  as  long  as  they  lived,  always 
entrusted  him  with  the  fitting  out  of  their 
fleets. " 

There  was  scarcely  a  family  in  Spain 
more  influential  than  the  Fonseca.  Beside 
the  elder  brother  Don  Alonso,  who  had  in 
herited  the  rich  family  estate,  and  Don 
Juan,  there  was  Don  Antonio  de  Fonseca, 
their  brother,  the  Auditor  of  State  for  the 
Kings,  and  Don  Alonso  de  Fonseca,  their 
uncle,  and  Archbishop  of  Seville. 

At  the  time  of  L,as  Casas'  ordination, 
Juan  Rodriguez  de  Fonseca,  the  Bishop  of 
Burgos  was  working,  for  his  own  benefit, 
in  the  mines  and  on  the  plantations  of 
Hispaniola  and  Jamaica  twelve  hundred 
Indian  slaves.  No  wonder  if  a  few  of  the 
earliest  American  clergymen  were  found 
in  possession  of  Repartimientos. 

To  the  sons  of  St.  Dominic,  so  often 
painted  as  the  embodiment  of  tyranny  and 
the  tools  of  the  Inquisition,  belongs  the 
honor  of  being  the  first  protectors  of  Ame 
rican  liberty  ;  and  the  first  to  raise  their 
voice  against  the  enslavement  of  the  native 
Indians.  Father  Domingo  de  Mendoza, 
brother  of  the  famous  Garcia  de  I/oaysa, 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.     49 

consecutively  Superior  General  of  trie  Do 
minican  Order,  Confessor  to  Emperor 
Charles  V.,  Bishop  of  Osma  Arch 
bishop  of  Seville,  Cardinal  and  Minister  of 
State,  introduced  the  Dominicans  in  the 
New  World.  He  was  not  however  one  of 
the  first  to  land  in  Hispaniola.  Pedro  de 
Cordova,  Antonio  Montesino,  and  Bernardo 
de  Santo  Domingo,  all  three  famous  in  the 
annals  of  the  early  American  Church,  and 
all  three  saintly  and  learned  men  landed  in 
San  Domingo  about  the  first  of  October 
1510  and  there  formed  the  first  Community 
of  Dominicans  in  America.  Pedro  de  Cor 
dova,  although  only  twenty-eight  years  of 
age,  acted  as  Superior  in  the  absence  of 
Father  Domingo  de  Mendoza,  who,  having 
remained  in  Spain  to  recruit  more  subjects 
for  the  American  Missions,  arrived  a  few 
weeks  after,  with  ten  or  twelve  more  com 
panions. 

The  first  week  in  November  of  the  same 
year  we  find  already  young  Pedro  de  Cor 
dova  in  Concepcion  de  la  Vega,  whither  he 
had  travelled  on  foot  (a  distance  of  about 
one  hundred  miles)  to  pay  his  respects  to 
Diego  Columbus,  the  governor,  and  to 
apprise  him  officially  of  the  arrival  of  the 
Dominicans.  He  reached  Concepcion  on 
Saturday,  and  the  following  day  preached 


50    Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

a  sermon  on  the  glories  of  Heaven,  which 
made  a  powerful  impression  on  the  Co 
lonists.  During  the  morning  service  the 
Spaniards  were  told  to  send  their  Indians 
to  church  in  the  afternoon  for  instruction. 
The  natives  came  in  large  numbers  ;  and 
the  young  Missioner,  crucifix  in  hand  and 
seated  on  a  stool,  addressed  them  by  means 
of  an  interpreter  beginning  with  the  cre 
ation  of  the  world  and  ending  with  the 
crucifixion  of  Christ.  Hence  the  Domini 
can  rule  had  its  origin,  which  was  kept 
for  many  years  after  in  Hispaniola  and  on 
the  continent,  of  instructing  the  Indians 
every  Sunday  afternoon.  The  first  Domi 
nican  convent  in  the  New  World  was  a 
straw  hut  donated  by  a  good  man  named 
Pedro  de  L,umbrares,  but  its  first  occupants 
were  men  picked  from  different  convents 
in  Spain,  and  eminent  for  their  learning 
and  their  virtues.  De  Lumbrares  furnished 
the  Friars  with  cazabe  bread,  which  formed 
their  ordinary  diet,  and  occasionally  with 
eggs  and  fish.  Add  to  these  some  cabbage 
dressed  in  oil,  when  they  could  get  it,  and 
you  have  the  fare  of  those  early  Apostles 
of  America.  Wheat  bread  and  wine  were 
hard  to  obtain,  even  for  Altar  purposes. 
Nevertheless  they  observed  scrupulously 
the  primitive  rule  of  their  Order,  and  fasted 


Life  ofBartolome  de  Las  Casas.     51 

seven  months  in  the  year.  Their  beds 
were  made  of  four  forked  posts  and  some 
hewn  boards  with  over  them  a  sack  or 
mattress  filled  with  straw. 

By  their  sermons,  the  administration  of 
the  Sacraments,  and  mainly  by  the  ex 
ample  of  their  lives,  they  soon  succeeded 
in  stamping  out  certain  minor  forms  of  sin, 
such  as  the  non-observance  of  fast-days, 
the  practice  of  usury,  etc.  But  the  plague 
of  the  colony,  the  main  cause  of  its  de 
gradation,  namely  the  enslaving  of  the  In 
dians  continued  its  ravages  unhampered 
and  unopposed.  From  their  Convent  of 
straw  it  took  the  Friars  a  few  months  to 
fully  realize  the  enormity  of  the  evil.  As 
Providence  would  have  it,  an  outlaw  came 
to  open  their  eyes.  Juan  Garcez,  having 
killed  his  wife  in  a  fit  of  jealousy,  had  been  in 
hiding  for  three  or  four  years.  Smitten  by 
remorse  of  conscience  and  tired  of  the  life 
of  a  vagabond,  he  presented  himself  one 
night  under  cover  of  darkness  at  the  door 
of  the  Monastery,  and  begged  to  be  received 
as  a  lay  member  of  the '  community.  He 
succeeded  in  convincing  the  Fathers  that 
his  conversion  was  sincere,  and  was  admit 
ted.  Garcez  soon  began  to  entertain  the 
Fathers  with  graphic  descriptions  of  the 
horrible  cruelties  perpetrated  by  himself 


52     Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

and  by  other  Spaniards  on  the  helpless 
natives,  especially  in  the  work  of  the 
mines,  and  set  the  good  Friars  to  study  the 
problem  of  Indian  slavery.  Prayers  and 
fastings  followed  in  the  Community  to  ob 
tain  from  God  light  to  adopt  the  proper 
means,  and  fortitude  to  combat  the  monster 
evil.  Consultations  followed  each  other 
among  the  Friars  in  rapid  succession,  and 
it  was  decided  at  last  that  the  tyranny  of 
their  countrymen  should  be  attacked  from 
the  pulpit.  Father  Antonio  Montesino  was 
chosen  for  the  task.  A  sermon  was  pre 
pared  and  the  manuscript  was  submitted 
to  the  approval  of  all  the  other  Fathers, 
whp,  each  individually,  attached  to  it  his 
own  signature.  Then  a  house  to  house 
canvass  was  made  of  the  town,  and  the 
Spaniards,  from  the  Governor  down,  were 
invited  to  hear  the  sermon  the  following 
Sunday,  which  was  the  first  of  Advent  of 
the  year  1511.  As  an  inducement  to  attend , 
everybody  was  told  that  the  subject  of  the 
sermon  would  be  new  and  interesting  to 
the  whole  town.  The  attendance,  it  needs 
not  be  said,  was  all  that  could  be  desired. 

The  Governor,  Diego  Columbus,  was  in 
his  pew,  and  his  wife,  Dona  Maria  de  To 
ledo,  the  grand  niece  of  King  Ferdinand, 
was  there  with  all  the  colonial  officers  of 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.      53 

the  Crown.  Montesino  ascended  the  pulpit 
and  gave  out  his  text  from  the  Gospel  of 
the  day.  u  Vox  clamantis  in  deserto,  the 
voice  of  one  crying  in  the  desert."  L,as 
Casas,  who  had  the  original  manuscript  of 
that  most  memorable  sermon,  left  us  only  a 
short  quotation  from  the  exordium.  "I 
ascended  this  pulpit  to  let  you  know  that  I 
am  the  voice  of  Christ  crying  in  the  wilder 
ness  of  this  Island.  Hence  it  is  meet  that 
you  listen  to  it  with  no  ordinary  attention, 
but  with  all  the  power  of  your  souls  and  of 
your  five  senses.  It  will  prove  to  you  the 
strongest,  the  most  rasping,  the  harshest, 
the  most  frightful  voice  you  ever  listened 
to.  This  voice  tells  you  that  all  of  you 
are  now  living  and  dying  in  a  state  of 
mortal  sin,  on  account  of  your  cruelty  and 
tyranny  over  these  innocent  people.  Tell 
me :  with  what  right  and  with  what  justice 
do  you  subject  the  Indians  to  so  cruel  and 
to  so  horrible  a  slavery?  With  what  au 
thority  do  you  wage  your  abominable  wars 
against  these  people,  who  were  living  peace 
ably  in  their  own  countries,  where  you 
caused  infinite  numbers  of  them  to  die  by 
your  unheard  of  barbarities  and  slaughter  ? 
Why  do  you  overwhelm  them  with  work, 
and  give  them  not  sufficient  food  to  keep 
them  from  starving,  or  medicines  to  cure 


54     Lift  of  Bartolom£  de  Las  Casas. 

their  infirmities?  Nay,  why  do  you  kill 
them  daily  with  excessive  labor  that  they 
may  bring  you  gold  ?  What  steps  have  you 
taken  to  have  them  taught  to  know  God, 
their  Creator,  to  be  baptized,  to  hear  Mass 
and  to  keep  the  Sundays  and  Holydays? 
Are  you  not  bound  to  love  them  as  your 
selves  ?  Have  you  lost  your  reason,  have 
you  lost  your  senses  ?  or  are  you  buried  in 
a  lethargic  sleep  ?  Rest  assured  of  it;  in 
the  state  you  are  now  living,  you  can 
no  more  save  your  souls  than  the  Moors 
or  the  Jews,  who  have  not  the  faith  of 
Christ." 

In  the  afternoon  of  that  day  there  was  a 
meeting  of  the  citizens  of  San  Domingo  in 
the  Governor's  house  and  a  Committee  was 
appointed,  with  Diego  Columbus  as  chair 
man,  to  wait  on  the  Friars  for  the  purpose 
of  reprimanding  the  preacher  and  frighten 
the  other  members  of  the  Community.  They 
called  for  Montesino  and  the  Father  Superi 
or  ;  but  the  latter  answered  the  call  alone. 
Who,  having  been  haughtily  requested  to 
send  for  the  offending  orator,  answered 
with  dignity,  that  he  was  the  Prelate  of 
that  Religious  Community,  and  that,  if  any 
thing  was  wanted  by  their  lordships,  he 
was  there  to  answer.  Seeing  that  Pedro  de 
Cordova  was  not  to  be  browbeaten,  the 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.      55 

Governor  changed  tone  and  tactics  and  re 
spectfully  asked  permission  to  interview 
Father  Montesino.  His  request  having  been 
granted,  Diego  Columbus  delivered,  in  the 
name  of  the  whole  Committee,  a  speech, 
the  substance  of  which  was,  that,  unless 
the  novel  doctrine  preached  that  morning 
was  retracted,  steps  would  be  taken  to  bring 
the  haughty  preacher  to  his  senses.  The 
Siiperior  answered  that  he  and  all  the  other 
Fathers  were  responsible  for  Moiitesino's 
sermon,  which  had  been  preached  in  the 
name  of  them  all,  as  the  evangelical  truth, 
after  mature  consideration,  and  as  necessary 
to  the  salvation  of  the  Spaniards  as  well  as 
the  Indians  of  the  Island,  who  were  perish 
ing  daily  under  their  eyes  and- received  no 
more  care  or  attention  than  if  they  were 
beasts  of  the  fields.  "We  are  bound, " 
said  he,  uto  preach  that  doctrine  by,  the 
profession  of  faith  we  made  in  holy 
Baptism,  and  more  so  by  the  vows  we  made 
in  becoming  Friars,  Preachers  of  the 
Truth  of  Christ." 

"If  so,"  said  a  member  of  the  Commit 
tee;  "the  Friars  may  as  well  get  their  lug 
gage  ready  to  leave  for  Spain." 

"Certainly,  my  Lords,"  replied  Pedro 
de  Cordova;  "it  will  cause  us  little  trouble 
to  do  that." 


56     Life  ofBartolomd  cle  Las  Casas. 

They  had  iiotliing  but  the  clothes  they 
wore. 

After  much  parleying  a  promise  was 
made  that  the  same  Antonio  Montesino  would 
preach  again  on  the  same  subject  the  fol 
lowing  Sunday,  and,  as  far  as  his  con 
science  would  permit,  endeavor  to  please 
the  audience. 

The  Committee  gave  it  out  that  the  Friar 
would  retract,  and  the  following  Sunday 
the  church  was  packed  again  to  hear  the 
recantation. 

Imagine  the  disappointment  of  the  colo 
nists  when  the  text  of  the  sermon  fell  in 
ringing  tones  from  the  lips  of  the  undaunted 
orator ,  ( '/  shall  repeat  my  knowledge  from 
the  beginning"  (Job,  Chapter  XXXVI. 
Verse  3)  "and  prove  my  words  to  be  true." 

This  second  sermon  was  a  severer  in 
dictment  of  the  Hispano- American  audience 
than  the  first.  The  colonists  left  the  church 
in  a  rage,  but  were  powerless  to  gag  or 
silence  the  brave  Friar  on  account  of  the 
ecclesiastical  immunities  enjoyed  by  the 
clergy  in  those  days.  They  did  not  how 
ever  give  up  the  hope  of  ultimately  com 
pelling  the  Dominicans  to  eschew  their 
withering  denunciations. 

The  Franciscans,  we  have  seen,  enjoyed 
the  partial  benefits  of  a  Repartimiento,  and 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.      57 

no  doubt  felt  that  the  Dominican  sermons 
reflected  disparagingly  on  their  community. 
Father  Kspinal,  the  Superior  of  the  Spanish 
Franciscans  was  engaged  to  go  to  Spain  to 
denounce  Montesino  and  the  Dominicans 
to  King  Ferdinand  as  teachers  of  new 
doctrines  and  disturbers  of  the  public  peace. 
Thus  Friars  were  pitted  against  Friars,  but 
the  game  was  not  all  one-sided,  by  any 
means ;  for  Montesino,  the  Dominican, 
followed  Kspinal,  the  Franciscan,  to  Court. 

Las  Casas  throughout  his  works  chari 
tably  excuses  the  conduct  of  the  Francis 
cans  on  this  occasion  on  the  ground  of 
ignorance,  as  the  disciples  of  St.  Francis, 
unlike  those  of  St.  Dominic,  were  not 
generally  men  deeply  versed  in  jurispru 
dence  or  in  moral  Theology.  In  other 
words,  he  grants  that  Bspinal  and  his  con 
freres  acted  in  good  faith. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  Juan  de 
Fonseca  was  then  at  the  head  of  the  bureau 
for  Indian  affairs,  and  that  twelve  hundred 
Indians  were  then  at  work  in  the  mines 
and  on  the  plantations  of  Hispaniola,  Ja 
maica  and  Porto  Rico  to  replenish  his  epis 
copal  coffers  with  gold  ;  that  Conchillo,  the 
Secretary  of  State,  was  also  deriving  a  fat 
income  from  his  Repartimientos ;  that  many 
other  courtiers  were  directly  or  indirectly 


58     Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

interested  in  Indian  slavery  ;  and  that  the 
royalties  collected  on  the  gold  mined  in 
America  were  beginning  to  ease  the  here 
tofore  straitened  conditions  of  the  Castilian 
treasury.  It  will  not  then  be  difficult  to 
understand  how,  on  the  arrival  of  the  two 
Friars  in  Spain,  Alonso  de  Espinal,  who 
was  able  to  display  a  bundle  of  letters  from 
Diego  Columbus  and  the  other  crown  of 
ficers  of  Hispaniola,  was  lionized,  while 
Montesino's  Dominican  stock  was  at  a  dis 
count. 

The  former  was  frequently  found  sitting 
by  the  side  of  the  old  king  conferring  with 
him  on  transatlantic  affairs,  whereas  the 
latter  saw  the  doors  of  the  royal  palace  daily 
slammed  in  his  face  whenever  he  attempted 
to  obtain  an  audience.  Happily  the  first 
champion  of  American  liberty  was  not  to 
be  balked.  Having  one  morning  begged 
in  vain  to  be  admitted  to  the  presence  of 
the  king,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  por 
ters  to  keep  him  out,  he  rushed  to  the  inner 
royal  chamber,  and  on  his  knees,  "Sire," 
he  said,  UI  beseech  Your  Highness  to  give 
me  audience  ;  for  I  have  to  tell  you  that, 
which  it  is  very  important  you  should 
know.'* 

"Speak,  Father;"  answered  the  monarch. 

The  Friar  drew   from  the  folds   of   his 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Gas  as.     59 

habit  a  memorial  graphically  describing 
the  horrors  of  American  Indian  Slavery 
and  read  it.  Then  said  the  king:  "are 
these  things  possible  ? ' ' 

"Not  only  possible, ' '  answered  the  monk, 
"but  they  are  facts  that  happen  daily.  To 
the  pious  and  kind  heart  of  your  Majesty 
it  seems  impossible  that  men  be  found 
guilty  of  them  ;  I  knew  full  well  that  your 
Majesty  had  not  commanded  them. 

"No  indeed,"  Ferdinand  replied  ;  "never 
in  my  life,  by  God,  did  I  ever  command  any 
thing  of  the  kind." 

The  immediate  result  of  the  conference 
between  Montesino  and  the  Spanish  King 
was  the  appointment  of  a  committee  com 
posed  of  the  ablest  juris-consults  and  theo 
logians  of  the  realm  to  investigate  the 
conduct  of  the  Spaniards  towards  the  In 
dians.  Numerous  were  the  sittings  of  this 
commission.  But  all  the  witnesses  exam 
ined,  except  Montesino,  were  the  defendants 
themselves,  that  is,  quite  a  number  of 
colonists,  who  had  come  to  back  and  sup 
port  their  champion,  Friar  Alonso  de  Ks- 
pinal.  Montesino  stood  alone  to  tell  the 
tale  of  woes  of  the  downtrodden  American 
Indians.  Discouraged  and  depressed  he 
decided  to  make  an  effort  to  convert  Espinal 
himself  to  the  side  of  justice,  because  he 


60     Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

knew  liim  to  be  a  conscientious  man,  a  true 
religious,  and  that,  if  lie  sinned,  lie  sinned 
through  ignorance.  He  stationed  himself 
one  morning  at  the  gate  of  the  Franciscan 
Convent,  where  Kspinal  lodged,  and  when 
the  latter  came  out  to  attend  the  meeting  of 
the  commission,  Montesino  approached 
him,  and  having  obtained  permission  to 
speak  to  him,  addressed  him  thus  : 

"Father,  do  you  expect  to  take  to  the 
next  world  anything  more  than  this  thread 
bare  Friar's  habit  that  you  wear,  and  which 
was  given  you  in  charity  ?  Do  you  look  for 
something  more  than  to  serve  God  ?  Why 
do  you  consort  with  these  tyrants  ?  Don't 
you  see  that  they  are  using  you  as  a  tool 
in  their  wicked  designs  ?  Why  do  you  take 
sides  against  the  helpless  Indians  ?  Is  this 
the  pay  you  give  them  for  having  sup 
ported  you  and  your  brother  Friars  with 
the  sweat  of  their  brow  ?"  etc. 

The  address  was  full  of  vigor  but  dic 
tated  by  a  spirit  of  charity.  It  converted 
the  well  intentioned  but  simple-minded 
Franciscan,  who  thenceforward  became  the 
life-long  friend  of  the  Dominican,  and  hav 
ing  turned  state's  evidence  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  unfortunate  Indians. 

The  report  of  the  commission,  less  the 
preamble,  which  I  omit,  reads  as  follows  : 


Life  of  Bartolomti  de  Las  Casas.     61 

<(ist.  The  Indians  being  free  men,  and 
your  Highness  and  the  Queen  (may  God 
admit  her  to  glory)  having  commanded  that 
they  be  treated  as  freemen,  we  recommend 
that  they  be  allowed  to  continue  in  the  en 
joyment  of  their  liberty. 

2d.  We  recommend  that  they  be  in 
structed  in  the  Catholic  faith,  as  it  is  or 
dered  in  the  bull  of  the  Pope,  and  as  your 
Majesty  have  ordered  by  letter.  It  must  be 
ordered  that  due  diligence  be  employed  to 
obtain  good  results. 

3d.  We  find  that  your  Majesty  have  the 
right  to  exact  from  the  Indians  such  labor, 
as  will  not  prevent  their  being  instructed 
in  the  Faith,  but  which,  on  the  contrary, 
will  prove  beneficial  to  them,  to  the  com 
monwealth,  and  to  your  Majesty,  who  must 
meet  the  expenses  of  their  instruction  and 
of  the  administration  of  justice  among 
them. 

4th.  Said  labor  must  not  be  oppressive, 
and  sufficient  time  for  recreation  must  be 
given  them  every  day  throughout  the  year. 

5th.  They  must  be  allowed  to  own  their 
own  houses  and  a  sufficient  amount  of  land 
at  the  discretion  of  the  present  or  the 
future  governors  of  the  Indies.  Let  time 
be  given  them  to  properly  cultivate  said 
land  in  their  own  way. 


62     Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

6tli.  L,et  it  be  ordered  that  tliey  be  kept 
in  as  close  communication  as  possible  with 
the  Spanish  colonists,  in  order  that  they 
may  be  more  easily  instructed  in  the  Ca 
tholic  faith. 

7th.  L,et  their  labor  be  paid  not  in 
money,  but  in  clothing  and  other  articles 
useful  to  their  households." 

These  propositions  are  not  in  principle 
unjust,  but  unfortunately  nothing  is  said  in 
them  about  abolishing  the  system  of  Re- 
partimientos.  The  laws  formulated  (not  by 
the  commissioners,  who  declined  the  task, 
but  by  the  bureau  of  Indian  affairs)  to  re 
gulate,  according  to  the  principles  laid 
down  in  the  seven  propositions,  the  re 
lations  between  the  Spaniards  and  the  In 
dians,  while  designating  the  latter  as  free 
men,  really  did  not  abolish  their  slavery. 
Dejure  they  mitigated  it  greatly,  de  facto, 
very  little,  because  their  execution  was  left 
in  the  hands  of  those  most  interested  in  its 
perpetuation.  Nearly  two  years  had  elapsed 
since  Kspinal  and  Montesino  had  left  Hi- 
spaniola,  when  the  laws  were  at  last  pro 
mulgated  December  the  27,  A.  D.  1512. 
They  continued  in  force,  with  additions  and 
modifications,  made  always  in  favor  of  the 
Indians,  until  the  year  1543. 

I  have  mentioned  that  Father  Kspinal 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.     63 

had  come  to  Spain  loaded  with,  letters  that 
represented  the  Dominicans  in  America  as 
little  less  than  revolutionists.  After  reading 
them,  king  Ferdinand  sent  for  their  Pro 
vincial  and  complained  bitterly  of  the  con 
duct  of  the  American  Friars.  These  com 
plaints  soon  reached  Pedro  de  Cordova  in 
Hispaniola,  who  decided  to  leave  for  Spain 
also,  in  order  to  assist  Montesino  in  the 
task  of  obtaining  measures  for  the  freedom 
of  the  Indians  and  at  the  same  time  vindi 
cate  the  conduct  and  the  doctrines  of  his 
fellow-friars.  He  arrived  at  court  when 
the  laws  had  already  been  formulated, 
although  they  had  not  yet  been  promul 
gated.  King  Ferdinand  received  him 
kindly,  and  soon  conceived  of  him  the 
opinion  that  he  was,  not  only  an  enlight 
ened  man,  but  a  Saint ;  and  that  opinion, 
says  L,as  Casas,  was  not  a  mistaken  one. 
Pedro  de  Cordova  foresaw  clearly  that  the 
laws,  as  then  formulated,  would  fail  to  cor 
rect  American  abuses  or  to  materially  allevi 
ate  the  oppression  of  the  Indians, .  and  so 
informed  the  King.  Thereupon  the  aged 
monarch  begged  the  youthful  monk  to  re 
vise  the  laws  already  made,  or  to  make  new 
ones,  arid  promised  to  have  them  enforced. 
But,  unfortunately  for  America,  the  Friar 
declined  the  task  on  the  plea  that  it  was 


64     Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

beyond  the  scope  of  his  vocation  and  the 
range  of  his  abilities. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1515  the 
Dominicans  established  a  convent  in  Cuba, 
with  for  subjects,  Father  Gutierrez  de  Am- 
pudia,  Superior,  Bernardo  de  Santo  Do 
mingo  and  Pedro  de  San  Martin,  priests, 
and  Diego  de  Alberga,  deacon.  We  shall 
meet  again  these  saintly  apostles  in  the 
course  of  this  work.  In  September  or  Oc 
tober  of  the  same  year  Pedro  de  Cordova 
sent  four  or  five  other  fathers  and  the  lay 
brother  Juan  Garcez,  (mentioned  above,)  to 
establish  the  first  Dominican  convent  on 
the  continent,  in  the  Indian  village  of 
Chiribichi,  which  they  called  Santa  Fe  de 
Chiribichi,  on  the  coast  of  Venezuela.  The 
journey  was  made  in  the  company  of  the 
Franciscan  Fathers  who  went  in  the  same 
vessel  to  establish  their  convent  of  Cumana. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
The  First  American  Bishops. 

JN  1503  Pope  Julius  II.,  at  the  request  of 
Queen  Isabella,  erected  three  episcopal 
sees  in  Hispaniola,  one  of  which  was  to  be 
the  metropolitan.  But  the  depopulation  of 
the  Island  of  its  aboriginal  inhabitants  was 
progressing  so  rapidly,  that  the  idea  of  in 
stalling  bishops  in  America  was  abandoned 
for  a  time.  However  in  the  year  1511  the 
number  of  Spanish  colonists  had  so  in 
creased  in  Hispaniola  and  Porto  Rico  as  to 
make  it  advisable  to  establish  new  sees, 
not  in  the  Indian  villages  selected  in  1503, 
but  in  the  towns  that  had  been  built  by  the 
Spaniards.  The  erection  of  the  archiepis- 
copal  see  and  of  its  two  suffragans  was 
annulled,  and  in  lieu  thereof  a  new  one 
was  founded  in  the  city  of  Concepcion  de 
la  Vega,  another  in  San  Domingo  of 
Hispaniola,  and  a  third  one  in  the  principal 
settlement  of  the  Island  of  Porto  Rico.  All 
three  were  made  the  suffragans  of  the  me 
tropolitan  see  of  Seville.  Pedro  de  Deza 
became  the  first  bishop  of  Concepcion  de  la 
Vega,  where  he  died  not  long  after  taking 

5  (65) 


66     Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

possession  of  his  see;  Alonso  Manso  became 
the  first  bishop  of  Porto  Rico  and  the  first 
titular  bishop  to  land  in  America  ;  Garcia 
Padilla  was  elected  the  first  bishop  of  San 
Domingo,  but  died  unconsecrated  and  with 
out  taking  possession  of  his  see.  Padilla 
was  a  Franciscan,  De  Deza  a  Dominican, 
and  Manso,  a  secular  priest. 

On  the  third  day  of  May  1512  an  agree 
ment  was  drawn  by  an  Apostolic  notary 
between  the  king  of  Spain  and  the  newly 
elected  bishops,  by  which  the  former  ceded 
to  the  latter  the  tithes  granted  to  him  by 
pope  Alexander  the  VI.,  to  be  applied  to 
the  support  of  the  ordinaries  themselves, 
their  clergy,  the  churches  and  the  hospi 
tals.  The  crown  reserved  for  itself  the 
jus  pair onatus  in  the  appointments  to  all  the 
benefices  erected  or  to  be  erected,  to  be 
however  exercised  only  once  in  each  case. 
A  benefice  once  vacant,  it  fell  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  bishop  alone  to  appoint 
another  incumbent  from  among  the  legi 
timate  children  of  the  Spanish  colonists, 
and,  according  to  the  Canons,  by  concur- 
sus,  or  competitive  examination.  The 
bishops  bound  themselves  not  to  induce 
the  Indians  to  abandon  the  labors  of  the 
mines  directly  or  indirectly,  but  on  the 
contrary  to  admonish  them  to  work  more 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.     67 


than  ever  in  mining  gold  not 
omitting  to  let  them  know  that  the  pre 
cious  metal  was  to  be  employed  in  making 
war  against  the  infidels,  etc. 

L,as  Casas  vehemently  attacks  this  clause 
of  the  agreement.  But  "unfortunately", 
he  tells  us,  "Bishop  Manso  himself  accepted 
a  Repartimiento,  although  in  all  proba 
bility  he  never  worked  his  Indians  in  the 
mines." 

As  illustrating  the  workings  of  the  in 
timate  union  of  Church  and  state  prevalent 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  I  will  give  a  few 
more  articles  of  the  agreement  between  the 
bishops  and  the  king. 

i  st.  The  tithes  must  be  collected  in 
kind  and  not  in  money. 

2d.  No  tithes  shall  be  collected  on 
metals  mined,  or  on  precious  stones. 

3d.  If  ecclesiastics  shall  engage  in  min 
ing,  the  same  royalties  shall  be  collected 
on  the  output  of  their  mines,  as  on  the 
output  of  those  belonging  to  seculars.  Any 
ecclesiastic  so  engaged  shall  be  amenable 
to  the  civil  tribunals  in  all  law-suits  con 
cerning  temporal  affairs,  and,  should  he 
plead  ecclesiastical  immunity,  he  shall  be 
deprived  of  his  Repartimientos  of  Indians 
and  loose  all  his  rights  to  his  mines. 

4th.     Bishops  were  restrained  from  or- 


68     Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

daining  more  than  oue  son  in  each  family. 

5th.  They  bound  themselves  not  to  give 
even  the  tonsure  to  any  individual,  who 
could  not  understand  and  speak  the  Latin 
language. 

6th.  The  size  of  the  tonsure  must  be 
worn  according  to  the  rules  laid  down  in 
the  bull  of  Julius  the  II.,  establishing  the 
American  hierarchy. 

yth.  Clergymen  shall  wear  their  hair 
long  enough  to  fall  at  least  an  inch  and  a 
half  below  the  ears  and  a  little  further 
down  the  neck  and  shoulders. 

8th.  All  clergymen's  tabards  should  be 
long  enough  to  reach  within  a  few  inches 
of  the  instep,  and  should  not  be  variegated, 
green,  red,  or  of  any  other  dishonest  or 
unbecoming  color. 

9th.  The  bishops  bound  themselves  not 
to  establish  in  America  new  feasts,  or  days 
to  be  kept  holy  other  than  those  enjoined 
by  the  general  law  of  the  Church. 

Shortly  after  his  installation  as  bishop 
of  Porto  Rico,  Manso,  beside  the  predial 
tithes,  that  is,  the  one  tenth  of  the  profits 
derived  from  real  estate,  attempted  to  col 
lect  also  from  the  Spanish  settlers  what 
were  known  as  personal  tithes,  that  is,  a 
tenth  share  of  the  earnings  of  their  personal 
industries.  The  Spaniards  refused  to  pay 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.     69 

them,  and  the  bisliop  excommunicated 
them.  They  in  return  ostracized  him, 
and,  for  a  time,  made  it  difficult  for  him 
to  obtain  even  the  means  of  subsistance. 

Disgusted  with  his  American  dignity, 
the  prelate  left  the  Island,  and  returned  to 
his  canonry  in  Salamanca,  which  he  had 
discreetty  failed  to  resign  on  his  elevation 
to  the  episcopal  office.  Three  or  four 
years  after  we  find  him  in  Hispaniola, 
where  he  acted  as  inquisitor  for  one  or 
two  years.  Then  he  returned  to  Porto 
Rico,  and  governed  his  diocese  for  quite  a 
number  of  years  and  died  at  a  ripe  old  age. 
Las  Casas  speaks  of  him  as  ( 'a  Theologian, ' ' 
and  a  person  who  led  "a  very  good  life," 
"honest,"  "humble,"  "plain,"  but  "not 
much  of  a  business  man."  Still  he  says 
that,  as  to  the  Indians,  Bishop  Manso,  like 
the  other  Spaniards,  felt  as  little  responsi 
bility  as  if  they  were  not  men. 

Pedro  de  Deza,  the  first  bishop  of  Con- 
cepcion  de  la  Vega,  did  not  come  to  take 
possession  of  his  see  immediately  after  his 
consecration,  but  sent  as  Vicar  General  to 
govern  it  one  Don  Carlos  de  Aragon,  a 
Doctor  in  Theology,  from  the  University  of 
Paris.  He  was  a  nobleman,  and,  it  was 
whispered,  a  relative  of  king  Ferdinand, 
who,  on  the  death  of  queen  Isabella,  had 


70     Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

taken  care  to  fill  all  the  lucrative  offices  in 
Hispaiiiola  with  subjects  from  his  own 
kingdom. 

Don  Carlos  was  quite  an  orator,  and  soon 
found  himself  at  home  in  the  then  capital 
of  the  New  World,  where  he  was  the  only 
clergyman  with  a  D.  D.  affixed  to  his 
name,  the  Dominicans  excepted,  who  lived 
in  retirement  and  were  hated  by  the  colo 
nists,  on  account  of  Father  Montesino's 
and  other  similar  sermons  of  theirs.  The 
whole  city  turned  out  to  hear  Don  Carlos 
whenever  he  ascended  the  pulpit.  The 
aura  popularis,  always  dangerous  to  cler 
gymen,  soon  turned  the  head  of  the  Pa 
risian  Doctor.  In  his  sermons  he  quoted 
more  frequently  his  Parisian  professor, 
(uncovering  his  head  whenever  he  men 
tioned  his  name)  than  the  gospel.  If  his 
doctrines  did  not  agree  with  those  of  the 
Angelic  Doctor,  he  would  remark:  "May 
St.  Thomas  forgive  me,  but  in  this  matter 
he  did  not  'know  what  he  talked  about." 
It  soon  reached  the  ears  of  the  Dominicans 
that  the  Vicar  General  was  preaching 
dangerous  and  unsound  doctrines,  and  they 
lost  no  time  in  writing  to  their  superiors 
in  Spain  about  them.  Meanwhile  the  now 
renowned  preacher  found  Hispaniola  too 
narrow  a  field  for  the  display  of  his  talents 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas.     71 

and  returned  to  Spain.  There  his  dashing 
oratory  and  the  novelty  of  his  doctrines 
attracted  immense  crowds  to  hear  him. 
He  was  invited  to  preach  at  court  where 
the  Dominicans  went  to  hear  him.  His 
false  doctrines  were  taken  down,  and  Don 
Carlos  denounced  to  the  Inquisition.  He 
was  made  to  recant  in  the  Cathedral  of 
Burgos  of  which  Juan  de  Fonseca  was  the 
bishop. 

"In  what  I  have  said  about  this  or  that 
other  matter  I  confess  that  I  was  wrong  ;" 
said  Don  Carlos. 

1  'Say  that  you  lied  ;"  called  the  bishop 
from  his  throne. 

"I  say  that  I  lied ;"  answered  Don 
Carlos. 

He  was  condemned  to  close  confinement 
for  life  in  a  monastery,  and  the  first  Ame 
rican  vicar  general  never  was  heard  of 
again.  Even  the  influence  of  king  Ferdi 
nand  to  have  his  noble  vassal  and  relative 
dealt  with  more  gently,  availed  him 
nothing. 

The  first  episcopal  see  in  Cuba  was 
established  in  Baracoa,  and  its  first  bishop 
elect  was  Bernardo  de  Mesa,  who  however 
never  took  possession  of  it  and  died  bishop 
of  Blna  in  Catalonia. 

In  1523  Charles  V.   (who  was  by  birth 


72     Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

and  education  Flemish)  having  succeeded 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  to  the  throne  of 
Spain,  caused  a  Flemish  Friar  to  be  ap 
pointed  to  succeed  Bernardo  de  Mesa.  His 
name  was  John  de  Wite.  He  resigned  in 
1527,  and  retired  to  Bruges,  where  he  died 
and  was  buried  in  the  monastery  of  St. 
Dominic.  Under  the  administration  of  de 
Wite  the  see  was  removed  to  Santiago  de 
Cuba,  where  it  continues  to  this  day, 
having  however  been  made  an  archbishopric 
in  1768,  when  the  new  see  of  Havana  was 
created  and  made  a  suffragan  of  Santiago 
de  Cuba. 

The  first  diocese  established  on  the  Ame 
rican  Continent  was  that  of  Santa  Maria  de 
la  Antigua  on  the  Gulf  of  Darien.  Its  first 
bishop  was  Juan  Cabedo,  a  Franciscan, 
who  landed  there,  being  already  conse 
crated,  with  the  famous  Pedrarias  de  Avila 
in  June  1514.  Several  Franciscans  ac 
companied  him.  His  administration  re 
flected  little  honor  on  the  American  epis 
copate. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
Las  Casas  in  Cuba. 

The  three  foregoing  chapters,  besides 
affording  the  reader  the  first  pages  of  ec 
clesiastical  American  history,  were  neces 
sary  to  make  the  biography  and  the  life- 
work  of  L,as  Casas  intelligible.  We  left 
him  a  newly  ordained  priest  at  the  age  of 
thirtysix  in  the  town  of  Concepcion  de  la 
Vega  in  Hispaiiiola.  He  exercised  the 
ministry  but  a  few  months  in  that  Island. 
Diego  Velasquez,  the  richest  American 
colonist,  was  chosen  by  Diego  Columbus, 
the  governor  of  Hispaniola,  to  subject  the 
Indians  of  Cuba  to  the  Spanish  crown  and 
to  form  settlements  of  Spaniards.  Velas 
quez  and  I/as  Casas  had  been  neighbors  and 
friends  in  Hispaniola,  and  the  former  was 
scarcely  settled  in  Cuba,  when  he  wrote  to 
the  young  priest  to  come  over  and  be  the 
chaplain  of  his  expeditionary  little  army 
of  conquest. 

L,as  Casas  joined  him  in  Baracoa  where 
the  foundations  of  the  first  white  settlement 
in  Cuba  had  already  been  cast.* 


*  At  Baracoa  I^as  Casas  began  to  fall  in  familiarly 
with   Hernando   Cortez,     the    future    conqueror  of 

(73) 


74     Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

Before  his  arrival,  Velasquez  had  sent 
his  lieutenant,  Panfilo  de  Narvaez,  to  the 
neighboring  province  of  Bayamo  to  induce 
the  Indians,  by  suasion,  if  possible,  by  force 
of  arms,  if  necessary,  to  give  their  alle 
giance  to  the  kings  of  Spain.  Narvaez 
owed  his  appointment,  as  Velasquez'  lieu 
tenant,  to  their  mutual  friendship  con 
tracted  in  Spain  before  their  emigration  to 
America.  Velasquez  had  sent  to  Jamaica 
for  Narvaez,  where  the  latter  had  no  small 
share  in  the  subjugation  of,  and  in  the 
cruelties  perpetrated  against  the  natives  of 
that  Island.  Having  been,  for  several 
years,  in  constant  contact  with  the  Indians, 
and  a  daily  witness  of  their  helplessness  to 
resist  the  Spaniards,  Narvaez  had  grown 

Mexico.  He  gives  (Ch.  XXVII.  Book  III.  of  Hist,  de 
las  Ind.)  of  him  the  following:  "Diego  Velasquez 
had  two  secretaries,  Hernando  Cortez  and  Andres  de 
Duero,  who  was  almost  a  pigmy  in  stature  (tamafio 
como  un  codo)  but  brave  and  very  discreet  in  his 
word.  He  was  a  good  penman.  Cortez  had  the 
advantage  over  him  of  being  a  Latin  scholar  and  en 
joying  the  title  of  Bachelor  of  Law.  But  he  was  a 
great  talker,  and  enjoyed  a  good  joke.  As  he  was 
not  as  discreet  as  Duero,  he  was  not  either  as  good  a 
secretary.  He  was  a  wise  and  able  man,  although 
he  did  not  have  the  appearance  of  knowing  much, 
or  of  possessing  all  the  ability  which  he  displayed 
later  in  his  arduous  undertakings.  He  was  a  native 
of  Medellin,  and  the  son  of  a  squire,  of  my  ac 
quaintance,  lowly  and  poor,  although,  it  was.  said, 
of  gentle  extraction." 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.     75 

rash  and  imprudent.  In  Bayamo  lie  had 
but  a  handful  of  Spanish  followers,  all  on 
foot,  except  himself.  Seven  thousand  In 
dians  surprised  him  one  night,  while  sound 
asleep,  and  surrounded  his  camp.  On 
waking  Narvaez  was  struck  in  the  chest  by 
a  stone,  which  caused  him  to  remark  to  the 
Franciscan  Friar,  who  stood  by  his  side  : 
"Father,  they  have  killed  me."  But  his 
attendants  threw  over  his  mare  the  saddle, 
which  was  loaded  with  little  bells,  and  the 
captain,  barefooted  and  in  his  night  clothes, 
sprang  on  the  animal,  and  galloped  around. 
The  naked  Indians  at  the  sight  of  what 
appeared  to  them  a  monster,  and  at  the 
tinkling  of  the  bells,  were  seized  with 
fright,  took  to  the  mountains  and  never 
stopped  until  they  reached  the  neighboring 
province  of  Camaguey .  Velasquez ,  on  hear 
ing  of  the  occurrence,  hastened  to  join 
Narvaez  with  reinforcements,  and  Las  Casas 
accompanied  him.  On  their  arrival  in  Ba 
yamo,  they  found  it  deserted,  and  learned 
from  some  Indians,  who  had  remained  be 
hind,  because  too  old  or  too  sick  to  travel, 
that  Narvaez  was  in  pursuit  of  the  fleeing 
hordes. 

If  in  Hispaniola  Velasquez  had  formed  a 
correct  judgement  of  Las  Casas'  worth  as  a 
layman,  in  Baracoa  and  in  Bayamo,  where 


76     Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

they  spent  several  months  together,  ample 
opportunity  was  afforded  him  for  studying 
and  appreciating  the  talents  and  the  zeal 
of  the  young  ecclesiastic,  whose  irreproach 
able  conduct  soon  engendered  feelings  not 
only  of  respect,  but  of  genuine  admiration. 
It  goes  without  saying  that  their  old  friend 
ship  and  his  sacerdotal  character  gained 
for  the  Clerigo  a  wholesome  influence  over 
the  haughty  Conquistador.  Las  Casas, 
speaking  of  himself  (Hist,  de  las  Ind., 
Book  III.  Chap.  XXIII.)  quaintly  says: 
"Diego  Velasquez  loved  him,  and  did  many 
good  things  on  his  advice,  being  influenced 
especially  by  his  sermons." 

Velasquez  was  about  to  be  married,  and 
having  heard  of  his  bride's  and  her  father's 
arrival  in  Baracpa,  hastened  thither  to 
celebrate  his  wedding,  leaving  in  Bayamo 
fifty  Spaniards  with  Juan  de  Grijalva  (a 
beardless  youth)  as  their  captain.  The 
young  man,  whose  commission  was  to  last 
only  until  Narvaez  should  return  from 
Camaguey,  was  instructed  to  look  upon  the 
Clerigo  as  upon  a  father,  and  to  undertake 
nothing  without  his  advice.  The  boy 
proved  obedient. 

The  Spaniards,  at  home  as  well  as  in 
camp,  on  their  journeys  by  sea  and  by  land 
were  constantly  surrounded  by  friendly 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.     77 

natives,  who  rendered  them  every  service, 
sometimes  of  their  own  accord,  through  their 
savage  admiration  of  the  white  man,  but 
more  frequently  because  they  wrere  virtually 
their  slaves.  The  Indians  were  the  car 
riers,  the  footmen,  the  cooks,  the  fisher 
men,  the  hunters,  the  scouts,  the  valets,  etc. 
of  the  white  man.  Every  Spaniard  in  the 
field  had  usually  a  score  or  more  of  native 
servants ;  and  wherever  there  were  a 
hundred  Spaniards  there  went  with  them 
not  less  than  a  thousand  Indians,  who  were 
usually  treated  by  the  white  masters  little 
better  than  beasts  of  burden.  The  young 
chaplain  of  the  little  Spanish  army  was, 
on  the  contrary,  uniformly  kind  and 
fatherly  to  them,  who  did  not  fail  to  ob 
serve  that  the  white  men  themselves  treated 
the  priest  reverentially  and  with  deference, 
and  that  whatever  act  of  mercy  went  out 
from  the  Spaniard  to  the  Indian  was 
generally  traceable  to  the  black  robe. 

Iyas  Casas  had  not  been  many  months  in 
Cuba,  when  his  name  and  the  fame  of  his 
kindness  to  the  red  man  became  known  all 
over  the  Island.  They  called  him  BeJiique, 
that  is  Priest,  or  man  of  God  and  conceived 
for  him  sentiments  of  love,  reverence  and 
fear. 

L/etters,  everywhere  in  America,    when 


78     Life  ofBartolomG  de  Las  Casas. 

the  white  man  first  came  in  contact  with 
the  Indians,  always  caused  in  the  un 
tutored  mind  of  the  natives  feelings  of 
amazement.  It  was  beyond  their  compre 
hension  how  a  bit  of  paper  could  tell  the 
wishes  of  one  man  to  another  many  miles 
away.  Letters  were  to  them  mysterious, 
supernatural  or  diabolical  agencies  for 
which  they,  naturally  enough,  had  the 
greatest  respect. 

So  masterful  had  become  the  ascendency 
of  the  first  American  priest  over  the  In 
dians,  that  he  could  command  compliance 
with  his  smallest  wishes,  not  only  when  in 
their  company,  but  by  means  of  bits  of 
paper  scrawled  over  and  carefully  inserted 
into  a  piece  of  hollow  reed.  A  messenger 
would  be  sent  to  the  cacique  of  this  or  that 
tribe,  who  in  presenting  himself  said : 
"Behiqtie  wishes  you  and  your  people  to 
do  so  and  so  ;  here  is  his  letter. 5>  The  reed 
was  broken  and  the  paper  seen ;  if  it  con 
tained  any  writing  or  not  was  immaterial, 
Behique  was  obeyed.  If  not,  word  was 
sent  back  to  him  giving  the  reasons  why 
his  wishes  could  not  be  complied  with. 

Narvaez  failed  to  overtake  the  fugitives, 
and,  fearing  to  plunge  into  the  thickly 
settled  neighborhood  of  Camaguey,  returned 
to  Bayamo  with  the  handful  of  Spaniards 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas.     79 

who  had  followed  him.  Many  weeks  had 
not  passed,  when  provisions  in  Camaguey, 
where  the  population  had  suddenly  been 
doubled,  began  to  fail ;  and  the  refugees 
found  themselves  in  the  necessity  of  re 
turning  to  Bayamo.  They  arrived  in 
droves  ;  and,  with  tears  in  their  eyes,  asked 
forgiveness  of  the  Spaniards  for  what  they 
had  done.  They  had  been  foolish  and  in 
considerate,  they  said,  were  sorry,  and  pro 
mised  thereafter  to  comply  with  the  white 
men's  wishes  and  to  serve  them.  The 
sight  was  touching.  A  necklace  of  beads 
(than  which  the  Westindian  native  held 
nothing  more  precious)  was  left  at  the  feet 
of  Behique,  and  another  of  Captain  Nar- 
vaez  to  propitiate  them.  Here  the  minister 
of  the  God  of  peace  addressed  to  them  words 
of  consolation.  "Fear  not,  my  children  ;" 
he  said,  "it  is  all  over.  Go  to  your  homes, 
and  nobody  will  hurt  you." 

Word  was  sent  to  Velasquez  that  the 
province  of  Bayamo  had  been  pacified,* 
and  asking  for  further  instructions.  When 
these  came,  they  were  to  the  effect  that 
Narvaez,  with  his  old  companions  in  arms, 
together  with  those  whom  Velasquez  him 
self  had  brought  to  Bayamo  (about  one 

*  With  the  Conquistadores,  to  pacify  meant  to 
subjugate. 


8o     Life  oj  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

hundred  Spaniards  in  all)  should  proceed 
to  Camaguey,  and  thence  westward  to  the 
other  provinces  of  the  Island  to  pacify 
them.  Narvaez  was  to  take  with  him  the 
Clerigo,  as  his  advisor,  who  was  also  re 
quested  by  another  private  letter,  to  follow 
the  expedition.  Thus  L,as  Casas  spent 
with  Narvaez  nearly  two  years  and  tra 
versed  Cuba  from  east  to  west  engaged  in 
its  pacification.  Their  first  halt  was  made 
at  an  Indian  pueblo,  eighty  or  ninety  miles 
from  Bayamo,  called  Cueiba. 

The  Missionary  annals  recounting  the 
evangelization  of  Spanish-America  are  full 
of  incidents  which  show  that  the  conver 
sion  of  the  natives,  especially  those  of  the 
Westindian  islands,  would  not  have  been 
any  extraordinarily  difficult  task,  if,  to  ac 
complish  it,  the  Apostolic  method  of  em 
ploying  no  other  arms  than  the  crucifix  and 
the  catechism  had  been  adopted  at  the  be 
ginning,  as  it  was,  with  perfect  success,  a 
few  years  later  by  the  Dominicans,  the 
Franciscans  and  the  Jesuits  nearly  all  over 
the  continent. 

Of  such  incidents  no  other  is  more  touch 
ing  than  the  following  given  by  Las  Casas 
himself.  We  have  seen  how  Alonso  de 
Ojeda  had  effected  a  settlement  on  the  con 
tinent  near  the  Gulf  of  Darien  in  the  year 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.      Si 

1509,  and  how  the  poisoned  arrows  of  the 
Indians  of  that  coast  had  compelled  him 
and  his  colonists  to  shut  themselves  up  in 
a  little  fort  which  they  had  built  and  called 
San  Sebastian.  Driven  by  starvation, 
Ojeda,  towards  the  end  of  that  same  year 
1509,  endeavored,  with  seventy  companions 
to  make  his  way  back  to  Hispanic! a  in  a 
rickety  brigantine,  in  order  to  obtain  pro 
visions  and  revictual  the  distressed  garrison 
of  San  Sebastian. 

They  failed  to  make  Hispaniola  and  were 
cast  by  the  high  seas  on  the  coast  of  Cuba 
which  was  yet  uninhabited  by  white  men. 
With  scanty  provisions  and  without  arms, 
they  endeavored  to  reach  on  foot  the 
eastern  end  of  the  Island  intending  hence 
to  cross  on  canoes  over  to  Hispaniola.  In 
constant  dread  of  the  natives  of  the  interior, 
they  plodded  along  the  low  and  deserted 
lands  of  the  sea-shore,  and  soon  found  " 
themselves  engulfed  in  an  interminable 
swamp  with  water  and  mud,  first  to  their 
knees,  then  to  their  waists,  and  last  to  their 
necks.  Their  tramp  lasted  Jlpr  thirty  days, 
during  which  half  of  their  number  perished 
of  hunger  and  exhaustion.  The  hardiest 
of  them  reached  at  last  the  Indian  pueblo 
of  Cueyba,  where  they  were  hospitably  re 
ceived  by  the  Cacique.  Ojeda  had  a  small 
6 


8s     Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

but  beautiful  picture  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  which  he  had  brought  from  Spain, 
and  with  which  he  had  never  parted  during 
all  his  wanderings  in  Hispaniola,  on  the 
Continent  and  in  Cuba.  Many  times 
during  the  thirty  -days  spent  in  the  swamp 
had  he  drawn  from  his  empty  knapsack 
and  spread  on  the  knee  of  a  cypress  tree 
the  beloved  image  and  invoked  the  as 
sistance  of  the  Mother  of  Christ.  He  had 
vowed  to  leave  the  picture  with  the  Indians 
and  to  teach  them  how  to  venerate  the 
Blessed  Mary,  should  he  succeed  to  reach 
dry  land  in  safety.  At  Cueyba,  where  he 
stopped  several  days,  to  rest  and  recuperate, 
he  fulfilled  his  vow.  As  best  he  could  he 
explained  who  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  and 
made  a  present  of  the  picture  to  the  Ca 
cique.  A  wooden  shrine  was  built,  a  little 
altar  erected  therein,  and  the  image  in 
stalled  in  the  midst  of  a  profusion  of  orna 
ments  made  of  reeds,  flowers  and  cotton 
cloth.  One  Pedro  de  Ordas  crossed  over  to 
Jamaica  in  a  pirogue  manned  by  Indians. 
Panfilo  de  Narvaez  was  the  Captain  of  the 
vessel  that  went  to  rescue  Ojeda  and  his 
surviving  companions.  Most  of  these 
settled  in  Jamaica  and  when  Narvaez  passed 
to  Cuba  to  become  the  Lieutenant  of  Ve 
lasquez,  some  of  them  were  amongst  his 
followers. 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.      83 

L,as  Casas,  whom  we  have  left  in  Cueyba, 
heard  of  Ojeda's  picture  and,  as  was 
natural,  looked  it  up.  It  was  found 
that  the  Indians  of  the  neighborhood 
had  persevered  for  more  than  three  years 
in  the  veneration  of  their  picture.  The 
chapel,  the  altar,  the  ornaments  were  there, 
and  sweet  couplets  had  been  composed  in 
the  native  dialect  in  her  honor.  A  con 
gregation  gathered  daily  to  sing  the  praises 
of  the  Mother  of  God.  The  picture  had 
now,  not  only  an  artistic  but  an  historical 
value,  and  the  Missioner  thought  of  ob 
taining  possession  of  it.  A  talk  was  had 
with  the  Cacique  and  a  proposal  made  for 
the  exchange  of  that  picture  for  another, 
not  quite  as  pretty,  which  the  Clerigo  had 
with  him'.  Suddenly  a  cloud  overshadowed 
the  Chief's  countenance,  and  as  no  answer 
was  made,  nothing  more  was  said  about  it. 
Next  morning  the  priest  repaired  to  the 
Oratorio  to  celebrate  Mass  in  it  and  found 
that  the  painting  was  gone.  The  Indians 
told  him  that  their  lord  the  Cacique  had 
removed  it  during  the  night  and  made  away 
with  it  to  the  mountains,  for  fear  that  Be- 
hique  should  forcibly  deprive  him  of  his 
beloved  picture  of  the  Mother  of  Christ. 
Needless  to  say  that  the  sacerdotal  heart  of 
L,as  Casas  was  deeply  touched  by  the  in- 


84     Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

cident,  and  word  was  sent  to  the  Cacique 
to  come  back,  witli  the  assurance,  that  the 
Father  would  not  only  allow  him  to  possess 
his  own  picture,  but  would  present  him 
with  the  other  also.  The  Chief  returned, 
his  people  remained  in  possession  of  their 
treasure,  and  the  Spaniards  departed  for 
the  province  of  Camaguey. 

The  peculiar  duties  which  L,as  Casas  im 
posed  on  himself  during  this  one  or  two 
years  of  campaigning  were  certainly  unique 
in  their  nature.  He  would  precede  the 
soldiery  by  a  few  hours  or  by  one  or  two 
days,  accompanied  by  three  or  four  Spani 
ards  and  his  acolytes,  who  were  Indian 
boys  from  Hispaniola  understanding  both 
the  native  and  the  Spanish  language,  and 
by  him  educated  and  trained  to  wait  on 
him  at  the  altar  and  in  the  administration 
of  the  Sacraments.  On  arriving  at  a 
pueblo,  where  the  little  army  intended  to 
halt,  the  Cacique  was  first  interviewed,  and 
the  order  given  that  all  the  inhabitants 
should  be  gathered  in  one  portion  of  the 
village,  and  vacate  a  number  of  houses  or 
huts  sufficient  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
one  hundred  Spaniards  and  the  one  thous 
and  Indians  from  Hispaniola,  Jamaica  and 
Cuba  itself,  who  followed  in  their  trail. 
Provisions  were  next  gathered  and  made 


Life  GfBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.     85 

ready  for  the  white  visitors  ;  these  measures 
the  priest  had  found  necessary  to  prevent 
his  countrymen  from  robbing  the  natives 
and  from  insulting  their  women.  At  his 
request  Narvaez  issued  an  order  forbidding, 
under  severe  penalties,  his  followers  from 
passing  from  their  side  of  the  village  to 
that  reserved  for  the  Indians,  and  from 
entering  their  houses.  Parents  were  in 
structed  to  have  the  little  ones  ready  to  be 
baptized.  On  the  arrival  of  the  Captain 
and  his  men  a  meal  was  served,  then  an 
instruction  given,  on  the  principal  mysteries 
of  the  Christian  religion,  to  the  villagers 
and  to  the  assembled  multitudes,  who  in 
variably  flocked  to  behold  and  to  wonder  at 
the  bearded  white  men  and  especially  at 
the  three  or  four  horses  ridden  by  the 
Spanish  officers.  Baptism  was  then  ad 
ministered  to  the  children.  The  ascendancy 
of  the  first  American  priest,  I  must  repeat 
it,  appears  almost  incredible.  He  had 
not  been  many  months  on  the  Islands, 
when  he  found  it  unnecessary  to  act  in 
person  as  the  forerunner  or  herald  of  Nar 
vaez.  It  was  enough  to  send  an  Indian 
scout  with  the  customary  piece  of  paper 
purporting  to  be  a  letter.  The  messenger 
would  say  to  the  Chief:  "the  Christians 
are  coming,  and  the  Father  writes  that  you 


86    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

vacate  so  many  houses,  that  you  gather 
provisions  to  feed  them,  and  have  the 
children  ready  for  Baptism.  If  you  don't 
do  so,  Behique  will  be  much  displeased. " 
He  was  invariably  obeyed.  The  phe 
nomenon  is  partially  explained  by  the  rapi 
dity  with  which  news  travelled  among  the 
Indians  everywhere  in  America.  More 
over,  thousands  of  natives  from  Hispaniola 
had  passed  into  Cuba  to  escape  the  labors 
of  the  mines  and  the  tyranny  of  the  Spa 
niards.  As  the  language  of  the  Cubans 
was  the  same  as  that  of  the  Haytiens,  the 
former  generally  knew  the  treatment  they 
were  to  expect  from  the  Spanish  marauders, 
unless  their  friend  Behique  should  protect 
them.  Hence  they  learned  how  to  love 
him  before  they  ever  saw  him,  and  realized 
that  compliance  with  his  wishes  was  con 
ducive  to  their  welfare. 

Had  Las  Casas,  at  this  period,  been  left 
in  Cuba  with  a  dozen  zealous  clergymen  to 
cooperate  with  him,  without  another  white 
man  to  obstruct  the  Gospel  of  peace,  it  is 
mpre  than  probable  that  his  long  life  would 
have  sufficed  to  christianize  and  to  civilize 
the  Pearl  of  the  Antilles.  How  different 
would  then  have  been  that  Island's  history? 
But  good  men  seldom  have  their  way  in 
this  world  ;  and  I  must  pass  regretfully  to 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.     87 

describe  a  deed  and  a  scene  as  sickening  as 
the  deeds  of  the  Terrorists  during  the 
French  revolution. 

Narvaez  and  his  one  hundred  men  were 
approaching  a  large  Indian  town  called 
Caonao,  in  the  province  of  Camaguey, 
whither  the  Clerigo  had  preceded  them. 
Before  entering  the  pueblo,  they  stopped 
to  breakfast  on  the  banks  of  a  creek  that 
was  nearly  dry  and  full  of  grinding  stones. 
The  meal  over,  each  soldier  sharpened  his 
sword,  and  the  march  was  resumed.  The 
town  was  found  to  possess  a  Casa  Grande 
(large  house),  or  a  sort  of  town-hall  spa 
cious  enough  to  accommodate  not  less  than 
five  hundred  people.  In.  front  of  it  was  a 
public  square,  where  provisions  had  been 
gathered  in  abundance  to  feed  the  Spaniards 
and  their  Indian  retinues*  A  steward,  ap 
pointed  for  the  purpose  by  the  Clerigo  was 
busy  parcelling  out  rations  in  the  presence 
of  Captain  Narvaez,  who  was  on  horseback, 
while  two  thousand  Cubans  sat  cross-legged 
in  a  circle  around  the  plaza  gazing  in  won 
derment  over  the  bearded  men  and  their 
prancing  horses.  One  of  the  soldiers,  as 
if  possessed  by  an  infernal  fury,  draws  the 
newly  sharpened  sword,  and  begins  to  slash 
the  naked  Indians  right  and  left,  men, 
women  and  children.  As  if  this  had  been 


88     Life  ofJBartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

a  preconcerted  signal,  nearly  a  hundred 
other  swords  were  unscabbared  and  a  ge 
neral  massacre  began.  Inside  the  Casa 
Grande  there  were  five  hundred  of  the  more 
timid  who  had  not  ventured  near  the  Spa 
niards.  They  also  were  slaughtered,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  of  the  most  agile 
ones  amongst  them,  who  managed  to  climb 
to  the  timbers  of  the  roof,  and  thus  to  save 
themselves.  Meanwhile  Narvaez  stood  on 
horseback  impassible  and  indifferent.  Las 
Casas,  at  the  time,  was  resting  in  another 
house  a  little  distance  off  with  the  Indian 
carriers  who,  tired  from  the  journey,  had 
stretched  themselves  on  the  floor.  With 
him  were  also  five  Spaniards,  who,  as  soon 
as  the  blows  from  their  fellow-soldiers,  and 
the  shrieks  of  the  wounded  Indians  were 
heard,  drew  their  swords,  and  were  ready 
to  massacre  those  also  who  were  within  the 
building  and  their  own  servants.  The 
Clerigo  induced  them  to  desist,  and  then 
rushed  hither  and  thither  through  the 
woods  to  stop  his  countrymen  from  pursuing 
the  fleeing  Indians  and  carrying  the  mas 
sacre  further.  In  less  than  it  takes  to  tell 
it,  the  peaceful  pueblo  was  turned  into  a 
charnel  house.  The  streets  were  literally 
flowing  with  blood,  and  made  almost  im 
passable  by  the  bodies  of  the  dead  and  the 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.     89 

dying.  Narvaez,  the  carnage  over,  on 
meeting  Las  Casas,  said:  "Father,  what 
do  you  think  of  the  work  of  these  our 
Spaniards  ?" 

The  Clerigo's  answer  was  characteristic 
of  him:  "I  commend  them  to  your  care 
and  to  that  of  the  devil."  He  was  then 
boiling  with  holy  indignation,  but  in  his 
old  age,  while  soberly  writing  his  Historia 
de  L,as  Indias,  the  Protector  of  the  Indians 
could  not  explain  this  and  other  simular 
deeds  of  wanton  and  savage  cruelty  on  the 
part  of  his  countrymen  otherwise  than  by 
saying  that  they  were  driven  to  them  by 
the  devil.  Manuel  Jose  Quintana,  one  of 
his  biographers,  assigns  a  more  natural 
reason.  uThe  true  explanation,"  says  he, 
uis  to  be  found  in  the  position,  in  which 
the  Spaniards  always  found  themselves,  of 
one  against  a  hundred.  Fixed  in  the  re 
solution  to  conquer  and  to  oppress,  they 
found  themselves  perishing  at  every  step 
they  made,  the  victims  of  their  own  te 
merity  and  rashness,  and  they  imagined 
that,  at  every  step,  they  saw  the  vengeance 
of  the  Indians  overtaking  them.  Every 
equivocal  action  of  the  Indians,  every  un 
certain  sign  spoke  to  them  of  dangers. 
The  instinct  of  self  preservation  became  in 
them  phrenetic  and  blinded  them  to  see  no 


90     Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

other  way  to  safety  except  by  striking  ter 
ror  with  promptness  and  audacity  and  to 
kill,  in  order  not  to  be  killed." 

Quintana's  defense  is  eloquent  and 
plausible,  especially  if  we  remember  the 
surprise  of  Bayamo,  during  which  Narvaez 
was  nearly  killed,  and  that  some  of  his 
companions,  who  had  done  service  with 
Ojeda  in  the  Gulf  of  Darien,  had  there  seen 
many  of  their  countrymen  perish  in  an 
ambuscade  and  by  the  poisoned  arrows  of 
of  the  Indians,  etc.  But  the  explanation 
would  have  been  more  satisfactory  had  he 
added  that  Narvaez  and  his  followers  were 
a  lot  of  criminals,  as  we  know  them  to  have 
been,  steeped  in  blood,  and  for  whom 
bloodsheding  had  become  a  passion  and  a 
pastime. 

Having  made  of  Caonao  a  graveyard,  the 
Spaniards  left  it  and  went  to  camp  on  a 
large  open  field,  where  the  cassaba  plant 
grew  abundantly  and  afforded  them  means 
of  subsistence.  It  would  have  been  useless 
to  march  to  the  next  pueblo;  for  the  natives, 
in  mortal  terror  of  the  new-comers,  had  de 
serted  their  homes  for  miles  and  miles 
around,  to  hide  on  the  mountains  and  on 
the  numerous  little  Islands  that  fringe  the 
southern  coast  of  Cuba. 

The  train  of  native  servants  that  followed 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.     91 

Las  Casas  was  no  small  one.  They  were 
not  pressed  into  his  service,  but  entered  it 
of  their  own  free  will,  attracted  by  the 
fame  that  the  Clerigo  was  the  friend  of  the 
Americans,  because  he  treated  them  kindly, 
and  to  seek  protection  under  his  ecclesi 
astical  mantle  from  the  oppression  of  his 
countrymen.  Among  them  was  a  vener 
able  old  man  by  the  name  of  Comacho, 
who  had  followed  him  from  Hispaniola, 
and'who,  on  account  of  his  experience,  long 
services,  and  trustworthiness  had  been  con 
stituted  a  sort  of  majordomo  and  factotum 
over  the  priest's  household. 

Not  the  sign  of  a  Cuban  had  been  seen 
around  the  camp  for  many  days  and  weeks, 
when,  one  night,  a  young  man,  under  cover 
of  darkness,  glided  to  the  hut  in  which 
Comacho  slept,  who  was  already  known 
very  generally  as  the  priest's  chief  domestic 
servant.  The  youth  told  Comacho  that  he 
wished  to  enter  the  service  of  Behique  and 
that  a  younger  brother  of  his  would  do 
likewise,  if  they  were  accepted.  Comacho 
approved  of  his  resolution  and  assured  him 
that  he  and  his  brother  would  be  welcomed 
by  the  Father,  who,  he  said,  was  very  good. 
While  with  him,  and  in  the  companionship 
of  his  other  servants  nobody  would  be 
allowed  to  do  him  harm.  The  old  man 


92     Life  of  Bartolomt  de.  Las  Casas. 

lost  110  time  in  imparting  the  news  to  the 
Clerigo. 

A  messenger,  who  could  be  coaxed  into 
going  to  the  hiding  villagers  and  induce 
them  to  come  back  to  their  homes  on  the 
assurance  that  no  further  violence  would 
be  done  to  them,  was  badly  needed.  L,as 
Casas  called  the  young  man,  reassured 
him,  embraced  him  and  caressed  him,  pro 
mising  at  the  same  time  to  take  him  and 
his  brother  into  his  service.  Cheerfully 
the  boy  agreed  to  look  up  the  people  of  a 
neighboring  village,  who  were  the  owners 
of  the  field  on  which  the  Spaniards  were 
encamped  and  to  induce  them  to  come  back 
within  a  certain  number  of  days.  Comacho, 
who  was  already  a  Christian,  and  spoke 
Spanish,  dubbed  the  new  convert  Adria- 
nico,  who,  armed  with  a  letter  from  Behi- 
que,  departed  for  his  mission.  The  days 
agreed  upon  had  passed  and  Adrianico  had 
not  returned,  and  everybody  had  given 
him  up,  except  Comacho,  who  insisted  that 
the  young  man  would  keep  his  word.  Late 
of  an  evening  the  Father  descried  a  crowd 
of  Indians,  men,  women  and  children,  led 
by  Adrianico  and  his  brother  to  the  number 
of  one  hundred  and  eighty,  loaded  with 
their  little  belongings  and  with  presents 
for  the  Spaniards,  approach  his  tent  silently 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.     93 

like  a  flock  of  sheep.  The  words  of  con 
solation  and  love  that  the  priest  addressed 
them  can  be  more  easily  imagined  than 
written.  As  soon  as  reassured  that  harm 
would  not  be  done  to  them  they  repaired 
to  their  wigwams  beyond  the  hills.  But 
Adiianico  remained  with  Behique  to  enjoy 
his  protection  and  the  friendship  of  Co- 
macho.  Next  day  every  native  in  the 
province  of  Camaguey  knew  that  the 
white  men  would  kill  110  more  Indians  and 
returned  to  their  homes.  They  were  paci 
fied.  In  familiar  intercourse  with  the 
Indians  the  priest  learned  that,  two  or 
three  hundred  miles  to  the  west,  there 
were  two  Spanish  women  and  one  man, 
held  in  captivity  by  the  natives  of  the 
province  of  Havana.  A  messenger  was  at 
once  dispatched  with  a  letter  to  the  local 
Cacique,  instructing  him  to  bring  the  cap 
tives  to  a  certain  place  and  to  deliver  them 
to  the  Christians.  Should  the  Cacique 
fail  to  do  so,  Behique  would  be  much  dis 
pleased. 

Narvaez  ordered,  shortly  after,  a  march 
across  the  Island  from  south  east  to  north 
west,  and  in  a  few  days  a  village  was 
reached  on  the  northern  shore,  called  Ca- 
harate,  all  the  houses  of  which  were  built 
on  piles  driven  in  the  water.  The  army 


94     Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

remained  in  the  town  fifteen  days,  during 
which,  a  canoe,  well  manned  by  Indians, 
was  seen  to  arrive,  and  to  make  for  the 
house  where  the  priest  lodged.  They 
landed  the  two  white  women  mentioned 
above,  who  were  found  to  be  naked  as  the 
natives  who  accompanied  them.  The  man 
was  in  possession  of  another  Cacique,  and 
it  required  another  letter  to  fetch  him.  The 
women,  having  been  left  in  each  other's 
company  had  opportunities  to  converse 
together  in  the  Spanish  language,  and 
had  not  forgotten  it ;  but  the  man,  who  had 
not  seen  a  countryman  of  his  in  several 
years,  had  acquired  all  the  habits  and  traits 
of  an  Indian  and  for  a  few  days  could  not 
speak  his  native  tongue.  Las  Casas  mar 
ried  the  women  to  two  of  the  Spanish 
soldiers. 

The  reader  no  doubt  is  interested  in 
knowing  how  the  trio  had  met  with  their 
sad  fate.  Four  or  five  years  before  a  party 
of  Spaniards  had  landed  in  what  is  yet 
known  as  the  Port  of  Matanzas  ;  if  for  re 
pairs,  to  get  water,  or  wood,  or  driven  by 
a  storm,  it  is  not  said.  While  attempting 
to  cross  the  Bay  in  a  canoe,  manned  by 
Indians,  the  boat  was  purposely  capsized, 
and  all  the  Spaniards  who  could  not  swim, 
were  drowned.  The  two  women  and  the 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas.     95 

man  (who  was  then  a  boy)  were  rescued 
and  incorporated  in  the  tribe,  but  seven 
others,  who  had  swam  ashore  were  hung. 
Hence  the  name  Matanzas  (slaughter). 

From  Caharate  the  Spaniards,  now  by 
land  and  again  by  sea,  passed  into  the  pro 
vince  of  Havana,  finding  everywhere  on 
the  route  the  pueblos  deserted. 

The  deeds  of  the  white  men  in  Caonao 
were  by  this  time  well  known  all  over  the 
Island,  and  on  their  approach  the  natives 
took  to  the  mountains.  Las  Casas  wrote, 
i.  e.  sent  to  each  of  the  Caciques  an  old 
piece  of  paper  with  the  request,  that  he 
should  meet  him  in  a  certain  locality,  and 
the  assurance  that  the  Christians  would  not 
harm  them.  They  all  came,  eighteen  or 
nineteen  of  them. 

Incredible  as  it  may  appear,  Narvaez 
promptly  caused  them  all  to  be  cast  in 
irons,  and  would  have  burned  them  at  the 
stake  the  following  morning,  had  not  the 
threats  of  Las  Casas  to  report  him  to  Ve 
lasquez  and  to  the  king,  rather  than  his 
entreaties,  saved  the  lives  of  the  poor 
wretches.  *  They  were  all  set  at  liberty, 
except  the  most  influential  one,  who  re 
mained  a  captive  until  Velasquez  released 
him  on  the  occasion  of  his  visit  to  Narvaez 
in  the  Port  of  Xagua,  as  I  am  about  to 
relate. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Las  Casas  a  Planter,  a  Miner,  and  a  Slave 
owner  in  Cuba. 

L,as  Casas  had  by  tliis  time  spent  nearly 
two  years  in  Cuba,  and  had  travelled  it 
from  east  to  west,  crossing  it  several  times 
from  north  to  south  and  from  shore  to 
shore.  Meanwhile  Velasquez  had  founded 
Baracoa,  settling  it  with  Spaniards  and 
establishing  civil  government  among  them. 
The  Island  was  now  pacified,  that  is,  the 
Indians  had  everywhere  bent  their  necks 
to  the  yoke  of  the  Spaniards,  and  Velasquez 
was  ready  to  make  new  settlements  in  the 
most  desirable  locations  to  be  found  on  the 
Island.  But,  as  he  had  seen  but  little  of 
the  country  himself,  it  was  found  advisable 
to  have  a  conference  with  Narvaez  and  Las 
Casas,  who  had  looked  it  over.  Word  was 
therefore  sent  to  them  to  meet  him  in  Xa- 
gua,  whither  he  travelled  himself  by  land 
and  by  sea  from  Baracoa,  accompanied  by 
quite  a  number  of  prospecting  white  men. 
Velasquez,  Narvaez  and  L,as  Casas  having 
come  together,  settled  for  a  few  months  on 

(96) 


Life  of  Bariolom&  de  Las  Casas.      97 

a  little  Island  near  by  the  Port,  where  a 
pueblo  of  Indians  was  located,  at  whose 
expense  they  lived.  Thence  frequent  ex 
cursions  were  made  in  the  interior  to  more 
thoroughly  explore  the  country.  A  gold 
mine  was  discovered  on  the  river  Arimao, 
that  emptied  in  the  sea  two  or  three  miles 
from  the  Port. 

The  locations  for  the  settlements,  or 
future  towns,  were  thus  decided  upon,  and 
the  first  was  founded  some  twenty  five  miles 
east  of  the  Port  of  Xagua  and  was  called, 
as  it  is  yet,  Trinidad.  The  second  was 
located  in  the  interior,  twenty  five  miles 
north-east  of  Trinidad,  and  almost  in  the 
centre  of  the  Island.  It  was  given  the 
name,  which  it  retains  to  this  day,  of 
Sancti  Spiritus.  The  third  settlement  was 
made  sixty  miles  further  east  on  the 
northern  coast,  and  the  name,  which  it 
was  given  then,  it  retains  now,  i.  e.  Puerto 
Principe.  The  fourth  was  named  by  Ve 
lasquez  San  Salvador  de  Bayamo,  but  it 
soon  came  to  be  known  simply  as  Bayamo, 
from  the  ancient  province  of  that  name. 
The  fifth  was  named  Santiago,  but  owing 
to  the  numerous  Santiagos  in  the  Spanish 
dominions,  it  soon  lengthened  its  name, 
which  it  retains  yet,  to  Santiago  de  Cuba. 
All  of  these  foundations  were  made  in  the 
7 


98     Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

year  1514.  There  were  already  some  white 
settlers  where  Havana  stands  now  in  1516, 
but  it  did  not  get  a  corporate  existence  be 
fore  the  year  1519,  the  port  being  known 
till  then  as  Puerto  de  Carenas.  Velasquez 
founded  Havana  on  the  southern  shore  in 
1515,  but  the  settlement  was  removed,  some 
two  years  after,  to  its  present  location. 

It  is  remarkable  that  Baracoa,  Trinidad, 
Sancti  Spiritus,  Bayamo,  Santiago  de  Cuba, 
Puerto  Principe  and  Havana  are  yet  the 
principal  towns  of  Cuba;  Cienfuegos  and 
Cardenas  being  the  only  cities  of  any  im 
portance  that  do  not  date  back  to  the  time 
of  Velasquez  ;  and  indeed  they  are  not  as 
old  as  the  past  century.  The  seven 
cities  were  located  by  Velasquez  in  different 
parts  of  the  Island  with  a  view  to  bringing 
into  requisition  the  labor  of  all  the  ab 
original  inhabitants  for  the  benefit  of  the 
white  settlers,  and  to  render  impossible  any 
general  uprising.  In  fact,  inside  of  two 
or  three  years  practically  all  the  natives 
had  been  parcelled  out  into  Repartimientos, 
that  is,  had  been  made  slaves. 

L,as  Casas,  who  was  a  friend  of  Velas 
quez,  and  had  had  so  important  a  share  in 
the  work  of  pacification  by  saving,  with 
his  presence,  the  lives  of  thousands  of  In 
dians,  was  assigned  one  of  the  very  best 


Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas.      99 

Repartimientos.  The  Cacique  of  a  pueblo 
called  Canarreo,  in  the  immediate  neigh 
borhood  of  Xagua  with  all  his  Indians  were 
jEncomendados ,  which  literally  translated 
means  :  were  intrusted  to  his  care  ;  but  in 
fact  were  turned  over  to  him  to  be  used  as 
slaves.  With  the  Repartimiento  of  the 
Indians  usually  went  a  grant  of  the  lands 
that  belonged  to  them.  It  was  near  Xagua 
on  the  river  Arimao  that  Las  Casas  settled, 
and  began  his  planting  and  mining  oper 
ations. 

While  yet  in  Hispaniola  a  lasting  friend 
ship  had  been  contracted  by  the  Clerigo 
with  a  very  good  man  by  the  name  of  Pedro 
de  Renteria,  who,  unlike  his  countrymen 
in  America,  had  never  been  affected  by  the 
gold  fever;  on  the  contrary,  his  main  object 
in  life  was  to  serve  God.  It  was  his  delight 
to  spend  much  of  his  time  in  meditating  on 
the  eternal  truths,  reading  the  lives  of  the 
Saints  and  other  similar  exercises  of  piety. 
Worldly  affairs  had  little  attraction  for  him, 
and  he  seemed  to  be  unfit  for  them,  al 
though  he  was  well  educated  for  a  layman 
of  his  times,  and  could  read  the  New 
Testament  in  Latin.  Humble  and  plain  in 
his  ways  and  generous  to  a  fault  he  leaned 
on  the  friendship  of  the  warmhearted, 
active  young  clergyman  who  was  all 


ioo  Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

business  and  eminently  a  man  of  action. 
Renteria  had  come  to  Cnba  with  Las  Casas, 
but  remained  in  Baracoa,  while  the  priest 
was  engaged  with  Narvaez  in  the  explora 
tion  and  pacification  of  the  Island.  Now 
that  he  had  joined  his  friend  in  Xagua, 
Velasquez  gave  him  a  Repartimiento  ad 
joining  that  of  the  Clerigo ;  or  rather  the 
two  made  but  one,  of  which  Las  Casas  be 
came  the  exclusive  manager,  as  if  he  was 
the  sole  owner.  Every  thing  was  in  com 
mon  between  the  two  friends,  the  Priest 
attending  to  business  while  the  layman  did 
most  of  the  praying.  Their  Indians  could 
be  counted  by  the  hundred,  and  it  took  but 
a  few  days  to  build  a  large  house  in  which 
they  lived  for  about  a  year,  with  Comacho 
as  the  chief  steward.  Las  Casas  lost  no 
time  in  laying  the  foundations  for  future 
wealth,  and  a  plantation  was  laid  out  and 
the  Indians  set  to  work  to  cultivate  it. 
He  did  not  neglect  to  send  some  of  them 
to  the  mines  to  gather  some  gold  ;  for  im 
provements  on  a  large  scale  and  in  a  new 
country  required  ready  cash.  It  soon  began 
to  be  whispered  among  the  Spaniards  that 
the  Licenciado  was  acquiring  a  taste  for 
the  good  things  of  this  world,  although  he 
must  have  given  no  scandal ;  for  being 
then  a  secular  Priest  with  no  vow  of 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    101 

poverty,  lie  had  a  right  to  retain,  make  use 
of,  and  improve  his  private  patrimony. 
But  his  manner  of  acquiring  wealth  by  the 
enforced  labor  of  the  Indians  was  radically 
wrong.  The  Protector  of  the  Indians, 
forty  years  after,  when  writing  his  Historia 
de  las  IndiaSj  did  not  fail  to  make  an  open 
confession  of  his  fault  to  posterity.  He 
wrote  of  himself  :  "The  Father  began  by 
their  (the  Indians')  labor  to  make  for  him 
self  plantations,  and  to  send  some  of  them 
to  the  mines,  paying  more  attention  to 
these  things  than  to  the  instruction  of  the 
Indians,  which  was  the  main  obligation  of 
his  calling.  But  in  those  days  the  Father 
was  as  blind  as  the  laymen  whom  he  con 
sidered  his  children  ;  although  in  his  treat 
ment  of  the  Indians  he  always  was  humane, 
merciful  and  charitable,  because  he  was 
endowed  with  these  natural  inclinations, 
and  also  because  he  knew  that  the  law  of 
God  required  it.  However  he  did  little 
more  than  look  after  their  material  welfare 
and  to  see  to  it  that  they  should  not  be 
harassed  too  much  with  excessive  labor. 
Everything  concerning  their  souls  was  by 
him  and  by  every  one  else  overlooked  ;  a 
plague,  which,  Our  Lord,  in  his  inscrutable 
designs,  allowed  to  infect  the  Spaniards  in 
all  walks  of  life,  in  the  Indies. " 


io2   Life  ofBartolomti  de  Las  Casas. 

I  surmise  tliat  the  humility  of  L,as  Casas 
in  his  old  age,  (he  wrote  the  passage 
quoted  above,  when  he  was  nearly  ninety 
years  old)  caused  him  to  overdraw  the 
picture  of  the  error  of  his  early  days.  His 
sin,  if  sin  it  was,  was  one  of  ignorance 
rather  than  of  malice.  From  a  lawyer  he 
had  suddenly  been  ordained  a  priest  and 
entered  the  active  ministry.  Hispaniola, 
between  the  years  1502  and  1510  was  not 
naturally  the  best  Seminary  in  the  world 
for  a  complete  course  of  moral  and  dog 
matic  theology.  Be  that  as  it  may,  his 
blindness  lasted  not  more  than  a  year,  and 
then  the  scales  fell,  almost  suddenly,  from 
his  eyes.  At  no  time  does  he  seem  to  have 
neglected  his  priestly  duties,  to  the  whites 
at  least,  who  were  Catholics.  But  let  us 
allow  him  to  speak  for  himself  again : 
"The  Clerigo  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas  was 
very  busy  with  his  plantations, for 
getful  of  the  obligation  that  bound  him  to 
instruct  his  Indians  and  to  lead  them  to  the 
bosom  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Diego  Ve 
lasquez  had  left  Xagua  with  the  other 
Spaniards,  his  followers,  and  had  gone  to 
found  the  settlement  which  he  called  Sancti 
Spiritus.  There  was  then  no  other  clergy 
man  on  the  Island,  except  a  Friar,  who 
was  at  Baracoa  ;  Pentecost  Sunday  being 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    103 

not  far  off,  the  said  Clerigo  Bartolome  de 
I^as  Casas  bethought  himself  that  he  would 
leave  his  home  on  the  river  Arimao,  and  go 
to  say  Mass  and  preach  for  them  (the  Spa 
niards  of  Sancti  Spiritus)  on  that  day." 

While  preparing  his  sermon  he  fell  in 
with  certain  passages  of  the  scriptures, 
amongst  others  that  of  Kcclesiasticus  (Chp. 
XXXIV,  Verse  21).  "The  offering  of 
him  who  sacrifiseth  of  a  thing  wrongfully 
gotten  is  stained  etc.,"  which  led  him  to  re 
flect  and  consider  and  then  to  doubt,  if, 
forcing  the  Indians  to  work  for  himself  was 
not  wrong.  He  remembered  that  the  Do 
minicans  in  Hispaniola  had  inveighed  in 
their  sermons  against  the  enslavement  of 
the  natives,  and  how,  on  a  certain  occasion, 
he  himself,  then  already  a  priest,  had  gone 
to  confession  to  one  of  them,  and  had  been 
refused  absolution  because  he  would  not 
consent  to  give  up  the  Indians  he  there 
held  as  slaves,  as  he  now  held  others  in 
Cuba.  He  had  then  contended  honestly 
with  the  Friar  but  with  frivolous,  if  plausi 
ble,  arguments  that  Indian  slavery  was  not 
wrong.  But  now  the  light  of  revelation 
and  the  experience  of  every  day  showing 
how  they  perished  by  the  hundred  in  the 
mines  and  elsewhere,  murdered  by  oppres 
sive  labor,  convinced  him  forcibly  and  for 


104   Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

ever,  that  it  was  not  riglit  for  trie  Spaniards 
to  possess  themselves,  for  their  own  use,  of 
the  natives'  lands,  goods  and  persons. 

Las  Casas  was  not  the  man  to  compro 
mise  with  the  devil ;  he  reasoned  that  if  it 
was  wrong  for  him  to  have  slaves,  it  was 
likewise  wrong  for  the  other  Spaniards, 
and  he  resolved  to  tell  them  so  in  the 
sermon  he  was  about  to  preach  to  them  on 
Pentecost  Sunday  of  the  year  1514.  He 
knew  full  well  that  perhaps  it  would  have 
been  in  the  interest  of  his  Indians  that  he 
should  retain  them  under  his  own  guardian 
ship,  allowing  them  to  enjoy  perfect  liberty 
and  at  the  same  time  prevent  their  falling 
into  the  hands  of  someone  else  who  would 
kill  them  with  overwork  and  starvation. 
But  in  that  case  it  might  have  been  said : 
u after  all,  he  keeps  Indians  himself  ;  why 
does  he  not  give  them  up,  if  he  believes  as 
he  preaches  that  to  keep  them  is  tyranny?" 
His  sermon  would  have  had  no  effect,  and 
he  resolved  to  give  them  up. 

Some  time  before,  the  Clerigo  and  Ren- 
teria  had  put  together  all  the  ready  cash  at 
their  command,  some  two  thousand  dollars 
(which  however  had  a  purchasing  power 
equal  to  $20,000  of  to-day),  had  chartered 
a  schooner,  and,  with  it,  Renteria  had  gone 
to  Jamaica  to  buy  seeds,  cattle,  hogs,  pro- 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    105 

visions,  etc.  with  which  to  stock  their 
farm. 

Giving  up  his  plantation  and  his  Repar- 
timiento  meant  for  the  Priest  poverty. 
Nothing  was  left  him  in  Cuba  but  his  mare. 
He  saddled  the  animal  and  undertook  the 
journey  from  Xagua  to  Sancti  Spiritus,  a 
distance^  of  perhaps  seventy  miles,  to  say 
Mass,  preach  and  make  the  renunciation  of 
his  Repartimiento  into  the  hands  of  Gover 
nor  Velasquez.  While  he  wends  his  way 
through  the  virgin  forest,  with  only  his 
trusted  Comacho  and  his  altar  boys  as  com 
panions,  we  shall  visit  Renteria  in  Jamaica. 

He  had  arrived  there  just  before  Lent, 
and  instead  of  putting  up  with  a  brother  of 
his,  who  was  settled  on  the  Island,  took 
lodgings  in  the  Franciscan  Convent  that 
had  already  been  founded  there  ;  and  spent 
the  whole  of  the  penitential  season  with 
the  Friars,  and  whenever  not  actually  en 
gaged  in  the  business  that  had  brought 
him  to  Jamaica,  spent  his  time  in  prayer 
and  meditation.  For  some  time  he  too  had 
been  troubled  by  scruples  about  holding 
Indians  in  his  service  as  slaves,  but  he 
reasoned,  that,  should  he  give  them  up 
they  would  fare  much  worse.  However, 
before  he  got  ready  to  sail  for  Cuba  he  had 
formed  a  resolution. 


io6    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

The  Cuban  Indians,  he  could  not  help  fore 
seeing  it,  would  soon  disappear,  as  most  of 
those  of  Hispaniola  had  already  disap 
peared.  To  put  a  stop  to  the  ravages  and 
devastation  caused  by  his  countrymen  was 
not  in  his  power,  but  perhaps  some  at  least 
of  the  little  ones  could  be  saved.  His  re 
solution  was,  on  his  arrival  in  Cuba,  to 
leave  for  Spain,  there  to  interview  the 
King,  and  obtain  permission  for  founding 
one  or  more  orphan  asylums  where  the  or 
phans  of  the  victims  of  Spanish  greed  and 
cruelty  could  be  raised  like  Christians  and 
educated  to  assert  their  freedom  as  such  on 
their  arriving  at  the  age  of  maturity.  Ren- 
teria  had  just  settled  on  this  plan  when  he 
received  a  letter  from  the  Clerigo  asking 
him  to  hasten  his  departure  from  Jamaica, 
because  he  (Las  Casas)  had  decided  to  take 
a  trip  to  Spain  on  a  mission,  the  object  of 
which  would,  no  doubt,  fill  his  friend's 
heart  with  joy  as  soon  as  it  would  be  ex 
plained  to  him. 

Las  Casas,  on  arriving  in  Sancti  Spiri- 
tus,  made  a  formal  renunciation  of  his  Re- 
partimiento  to  Governor  Velasquez,  who 
said  in  astonishment:  "Father,  reflect  well 
on  what  you  are  doing  ;  God  knows  that  I 
wish  to  see  you  prosperous  and  rich,  and 
therefore  I  do  not  admit,  for  the  present, 


Life  ofBartolom^  de  Las  Casas.    107 

your  renunciation.  You  have  fifteen  days 
to  think  the  matter  over ;  after  which  you 
may  come  back  and  tell  me  what  you  in 
tend  to  do." 

"Sefior,"  answered  L,as  Casas  :.  "consider 
the  fifteen  days  as  already  past,  and,  should 
I  hereafter  ever  come  to  you  with  tears  of 
blood  in  my  eyes  to  beg  you  to  give  me 
back  my  Indians,  may  God  never  forgive 
you,  if,  through  love  of  me,  you  should 
grant  my  request." 

I  need  not  say  much  of  the  Clerigo's 
sermon  on  that  Pentecost  Sunday.  It 
made  a  profound  impression,  but,  like  the 
one  preached  by  Montesino  in  San  Domingo 
a  few  years  before,  it  converted  nobody. 
That  Friar  and  this  secular  Priest  were 
made  of  the  same  metal  and  cast  in  the 
same  mould.  It  had  not  been  long  since 
L,as  Casas  had  returned  to  Xagua,  when 
Renteria's  schooner  hove  in  sight.  To 
jump  into  a  canoe  and  to  row  a  league  off 
shore  was  done  by  the  Clerigo  inside  a  half 
an  hour.  "What  did  your  Reverence 
mean,"  said  Renteria  on  seeing  the  priest, 
"by  writing  me  that  you  want  to  go  to 
Castile?  I  am  the  man  to  go,  not  you, 
and  as  soon  as  I  shall  tell  you  why,  I  know 
you'll  be  pleased  to  see  me  start."  L,as 
Casas  replied  :  "Wait  until  we  reach  land, 


io8    Life  ofjBartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

and  when  I  shall  have  told  you  why,  I 
know  you'll  think  it  better  that  I  go." 

They  unbosomed  themselves  to  each 
other,  and  the  layman  at  once  agreed  that 
the  priest  should  go  ;  first,  because  his  mis 
sion  was  of  greater  importance  ;  and  second, 
because  being  a  Clergyman  and  a  Licen- 
ciado,  he  would  have  easier  access  to  court, 
and  his  words  would  have  more  weight. 

The  cargo  was  sold  at  a  handsome  profit, 
and  a  goodly  sum  realized,  wherewith  to 
pay  Las  Casas'  passage  to  Spain  and  de 
fray  his  expenses  while  there.  Both  priest 
and  layman  left  their  Repartimiento  with 
out  a  pang,  which,  in  a  very  short  time, 
would  have  made  them  independently 
wealthy. 

Every  reader  of  "Historia  de  las  Indias" 
is  vexed  with  Las  Casas  for  telling  us  not  a 
word  more  about  his  holy  friend  Renteria, 
and  it  is  really  a  pity  that  history  gives 
nothing  more  of  him.  His  name  however 
shall  be  linked  for  all  times  to  that  of  the 
Protector  of  the  Indians,  and,  no  doubt,  in 
the  world  beyond  he  now  enjoys  a  blessed 
immortality,  while  in  this  world  his  me 
mory  shall  never  die. 

Las  Casas  was  yet  in  Cuba  during  the 
early  months  of  1515.  Two  weeks  before 
Easter  he  had  the  pleasure  of  welcoming 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    109 

to  the  Island  four  Dominican  Friars,  who, 
as  I  have  already  mentioned,  had  been 
sent  by  Father  Pedro  de  Cordova  to  found 
a  convent  and  to  evangelize  the  Natives. 
The  very  next  day  after  their  arrival  (very 
probably  in  the  town  of  Trinidad)  and 
every  day  until  Easter  Sunday  inclusive, 
they  preached,  and  every  body  was  pleased 
with  their  sermons.  But  they  had  not  yet 
touched  on  the  subject  of  Indian  slavery. 

On  Kaster  Monday  the  Dominicans  re 
quested  the  Clerigo  to  preach  himself  be 
cause  "they  wished  to  hear  him."  uHe 
accepted,  and  in  order  that  his  doctrine 
about  the  oppression  of  the  Indians,  which 
he  had  preached  during  the  past  seven  or 
eight  months,  might  be  placed  in  its  proper 
light ;  and  inasmuch  as  some  believed  that 
to  oppress  and  to  kill  men  was  no  sin, 
others  doubted  it,  some  joked  about  it,  and 
others  murmured,  he  gathered  all  the  dif 
ferent  propositions  he  had  advanced  during 
those  months  on  the  subject,  especially 
those  that  had  proved  most  disagreeable 
and  most  rasping  to  his  countrymen,  and 
reaffirmed  them  all  together  more  vehe 
mently  and  with  greater  freedom  than  ever, 
in  the  presence  of  the  Friars.77 

These  enjoyed  the  sermon  and  rejoiced  at 
hearing  the  bitter  truth  preached  with  so 


no    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

much  evangelical  liberty.  The  Clerigo 
gave  the  sermons  he  had  preached  before 
the  arrival  of  the  Dominicans  to  Father 
Bernardo  de  Santo  Domingo  to  read.  "The 
good  Friar,"  remarks  Las  Casas  appar 
ently  with  some  degree  of  self  complacency, 
4 'swore  that,  had  he  known  that  in  Cuba 
there  was  a  priest  who  preached  such  ser 
mons,  he  would  never  have  set  foot  on  the 
Island,  because  if  the  Spaniards  had  not 
been  converted  by  him,  and  had  not  stop 
ped  their  murders,  he  could  not  hope  to  do 
them  any  good  with  his  preaching. ' ' 

The  following  Low  Sunday  Father  Ber 
nardo  preached  again,  and,  as  was  natural 
for  that  day,  took  for  his  subject:  "lam 
the  good  Shepherd."  The  substance  of 
the  sermon  was  that  they,  the  Spaniards, 
were  not  the  shepherds  of  the  Indians,  but 
hirelings,  tyrants  and  hungry  wolves,  who 
tore  them  to  pieces  and  devoured  them.  It 
frightened  somewhat  the  audience,  but  did 
not  convert  them.  As  it  was  plainly  to  be 
seen  that  the  cruel  tyranny  of  the  Spaniards 
did  not  diminish,  but  was  rather  on  the  in 
crease,  the  same  Father  Bernardo  ascended 
the  pulpit  once  more  on  Trinity  Sunday, 
and  so  threatened  the  sinners  with  the 
divine  vengeance,  as  to  cause  the  Clerigo 
himself  to  tremble  in  his  seat.  The  sermon 


Life  oj Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    in 

would  perhaps  be,  even  now  interesting 
reading,  but  L,as  Casas  only  preserved  the 
following  passage  which  I  give  in  full. 

u Since  we  have  come  among  you  we 
have  spoken  plainly  about  the  sinful  con 
dition  of  your  souls,  because  you  have 
oppressed,  tyrannized  and  murdered  these 
people.  Not  only  you  have  not  given  any 
sign  of  repentance,  but  you  are  doing  worse 
every  day,  shedding  the  blood  of  so  many, 
who  have  done  you  no  harm.  I  beg  the 
Incarnate  God  that,  on  the  day  of  judge 
ment,  the  blood  he  shed  for  them  may  be 
a  witness  against  your  cruelty.  You  will 
not  then  be  able  to  plead  ignorance  and  to 
say  that  you  had  not  been  instructed  and 
warned  about  the  wrongs  you  are  now  per 
petrating  against  these  people.  As  you 
are  now  the  witnesses  of  each  other's 
crimes,  so  will  you  then  be  of  the  punish 
ment  that  shall  be  meted  out  to  you. ' '  The 
audience  left  the  church  with  downcast  and 
sad  countenances,  but  unconverted. 

The  Dominicans  were  now  convinced 
that  they  could  do  no  good  in  Cuba  ;  not  to 
the  Indians,  while  they  were  oppressed  and 
destroyed  by  the  Christians,  nor  to  the 
Spaniards,  to  whom  the  Sacraments  could 
not  be  administered  while  they  persisted  in 
living  in  a  state  of  mortal  sin.  It  was 


ii2   Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

therefore  decided  tliat  their  Superior,  Gu- 
tierre  de  Ampudia  and  Deacon  Diego  de 
Alberca  should  go  over  to  Hispaniola  in 
company  of  Las  Casas,  who  was  now  about 
to  leave  for  Spain.  They  went  to  lay  be 
fore  their  Prelate  the  condition  of  religious 
affairs  in  Cuba.  The  three  sailed  either 
from  Santiago  de  Cuba  or  from  Baracoa 
and  landed  in  the  Port  of  Yguana  which 
was  the  nearest  to  the  coast  of  Cuba. 
Thence  they  proposed  to  cross,  as  best  they 
could,  the  Island  in  order  to  reach  the  city 
of  San  Domingo.  But  they  had  travelled 
but  a  few  leagues  when  the"  Dominican 
Father  fell  sick  of  a  fever.  In  a  few  days 
he  so  far  recovered  as  to  be  able  to 
travel  horseback,  and  the  Clerigo  loaned 
him  his  mare  in  order  that,  accompanied, 
as  he  was,  by  the  Deacon,  who  travelled 
on  foot,  he  might  continue  on  his  journey. 
Las  Casas  remained  behind  to  procure 
another  horse,  his  intention  being  to  over 
take  them  on  the  road  by  following  a 
shorter  route.  Father  Gutierre  had  gone 
three  days  on  his  journey,  when  he  re 
lapsed  and  died  on  the  road,  at  the  house 
of  a  Spaniard,  who  kept  a  cattle  farm. 
The  Clerigo  and  Diego  de  Alberta  reached 
their  destination  in  safety. 

The  Clerigo 's  reasons  for  travelling  to 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    113 

San  Domingo  were :  ist,  because  then 
all  ships  bound  for  Spain  either  sailed  or 
touched  at  that  port ;  2d,  to  settle  up  his 
temporal  affairs  in  Hispaniola  or  to  place 
them  in  safe  hands  ;  3d,  to  inform  his 
friend  Pedro  de  Cordova  about  the  object  of 
his  journey  to  Europe,  which  was  to  inform 
the  king  about  the  real  state  of  affairs  in 
his  American  possessions,  and  to  endeavor 
to  obtain  some  legislation  that  would  stop 
the  further  oppression  and  annihilation  of 
the  American  natives  ;  and  4th,  to  obtain 
from  the  same  Pedro  de  Cordova  letters  of 
recommendation  to  the  Dominicans  in 
Spain  whereby  he  hoped  to  be  able  to  se 
cure  the  influence  and  the  support  that 
their  powerful  Order  could  afford  him  at 
court. 

L,as  Casas  was  quick  and  impetuous  in 
forming  resolutions,  but  prudent,  per 
severing  and  shrewd  in  the  choice  of 
means  to  carry  them  out.  Before  leaving 
Cuba,  he  took  care  to  obtain  from  Velas 
quez  a  written  testimonial,  (and  to  have  it 
properly  authenticated  by  a  notary  public) 
of  the  important  services  he  had  rendered 
to  the  Spanish  crown  and  to  religion  in 
the  pacification  of  the  Island.  This  pre 
caution  was  taken  to  forestall  calumnies  on 
the  part  of  the  Spanish  settlers,  who,  as 


ii4    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

soon  as  the  real  object  of  his  journey  to 
Spain  should  be  known,  would  not  unlikely 
endeavor  to  misrepresent  him  at  court. 
And  in  order  that,  on  his  arrival  in 
Spain,  he  should  not  find  every  door  shut 
against  him  by  the  machinations  and  in 
trigues  of  those,  who  were  interested  in 
Indian  slavery,  if  the  object  of  his  voyage 
was  known,  he  allowed  his  countrymen,  on 
his  departure  from  Cuba,  to  remain  under 
the  impression  that  he  was  going  to  Paris 
to  study,  and  to  obtain,  if  possible,  the 
coveted  degree  of  that  University.  Thus 
Velasquez  and  his  associates  were  thrown 
off  their  guard,  and  the  L,icenciado  parted 
on  the  best  of  terms  with  them  all. 

Pedro  de  Cordova  had  but  lately  returned 
from  old  Castile,  and  we  know  of  his 
doings  there  from  what  has  been  said  al 
ready.  To  use  a  familiar  expression,  he 
was  quite  familiar  with  the  lay  of  the  land 
there,  and  could  not  promise  much  success 
to  L,as  Casas  in  his  mission.  After  hearing, 
in  confidence,  the  intentions  of  the  Priest, 
he  said  :  "  Father,  your  labors  shall  not  be 
lost,  because  God  will  keep  a  good  account 
of  them  ;  but  rest  assured,  that,  while  the 
present  King  lives,  you  will  not  accomplish 
that,  which  both,  you  and  I,  so  much 
desire. » 


Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    115 

However  the  Friar  praised  the  Priest's 
intentions  and  encouraged  him  to  leave 
nothing  undone  to  save  the  lives  of  the  un 
fortunate  natives.  The  interview  ended 
with  the  following  by  L,as  Casas  :  "Father, 
I  will  try  every  possible  way,  and  I  shall 
shirk  no  labors  or  trials  that  I  may  have  to 
undergo,  to  accomplish  what  I  have  under 
taken,  and  I  hope  that  God  will  help  me. 
If  I  fail  I  shall  have  the  satisfaction  of 
having  done  what  a  good  Christian  should 
do.  Your  Reverence,  I  hope,  will  pray 
and  have  others  to  pray  for  me."  From 
this  conference  there  sprung  between  the 
Clerigo  and  the  Friar  a  friendship,  which 
ended  only  in  death  ;  and  L,as  Casas  took 
pride  in  consigning  the  fact  to  history, 
that  good  Father  Pedro  loved  the  L,icen- 
ciado  as  much,  at  least,  as  any  of  his  own 
fellow- friars. 

The  hatred  which  most  of  the  Spaniards 
in  Hispaniola  bore  the  Dominicans,  on  ac 
count  of  their  sermons,  had  not  yet  abated. 
They  lived  in  strictest  poverty,  sometimes 
lacking  even  the  necessaries  of  life.  Their 
convent  was  as  yet  but  half  built,  and  they 
could  not  see  their  way  to  finish  it.  It  was 
therefore  decided  that  Father  Montesino 
should  travel  to  the  old  country  once  more 
in  order  to  solicit  from  aged  king  Fer- 


n6    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

dinand,  on  whom  he  and  Pedro  de  Cordova 
had  made  a  favorable  impression  on  their 
former  visit,  sufficient  alms  to  build  their 
church  and  complete  their  convent.  Mon- 
tesino's  experience  at  court  might  at  the 
same  time  be  of  service  to  the  Clerigo.  In 
September  1515  I  find  the  Priest  and  the 
Friar  on  board  the  same  ship,  and  it  is  not 
rash  to  say  that  no  better  couple  ever 
crossed  the  Atlantic  together  or  for  a  holier 
purpose.  On  their  arrival  in  Seville,  after 
a  prosperous  voyage,  Montesino  went  to 
lodge  in  a  convent  of  his  Order,  while  L,as 
Casas  put  up  with  some  of  his  relatives. 


CHAPTER  X. 
Las  Casas'  First  Visit  to  the  Court  of  Spain. 

JYJONTESINO  introduced  the  Clerigo  in 
complimentary  terms  to  Diego  de  Deza, 
the  Archbishop  of  Seville,  who  was  a  Domi 
nican.  This  Prelate  had  been  at  one  time 
the  Confessor  of  king  Ferdinand,  and  was 
on  terms  so  intimate  with  the  old  Ruler, 
that,  having  heard  that  His  Majesty  was  in 
poor  health,  he  invited  him  to  come  and 
live  in  Seville  where  the  mild  climate 
favored  old  age  ;  and  the  invitation  had 
been  accepted. 

His  Grace,  the  Archbishop,  gave  the 
Clerigo  a  letter  of  introduction  to  the  king, 
warmly  recommending  the  object  of  his 
mission  at  court.  Other  letters  to  the  dig 
nitaries  surrounding  the  royal  person  were 
intended  to  facilitate  the  priest's  admission 
to  the  king's  presence. 

Ferdinand  was  then  in  the  city  of  Pla- 
cencia,  and  L,as  Casas  went  to  see  him 
there,  arriving  a  few  days  before  Christmas. 
At  that  time  Juan  de  Fonseca  and  the 

("7) 


n8    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

Secretary  of  State,  L,ope  Conchillos,  were 
at  the  head  of  the  bureau  for  Indian  affairs 
and  nothing  of  importance  was  done  that 
did  not  pass  through  their  hands.  It  would 
have  been  folly  to  apply  to  them  for  assistance 
to  redress  the  wrongs  perpetrated  on  the 
American  Indians  ;  for  they  themselves 
kept  hundreds  of  them  at  work  in  the 
mines  of  Hispaniola,  Jamaica,  Cuba  and 
Porto  Rico  extracting  gold  to  fill  their  own 
coffers.  And,  as  it  generally  happens  with 
absentee  landlords,  the  victims  of  their 
greed  were  treated  even  more  cruelly  than 
the  Indians  belonging  to  other  Reparti- 
mientos.  Las  Casas  therefore  avoided  meet 
ing  them,  and  took  care  to  let  them  know 
nothing  of  his  business  at  court.  On  the 
23d  of  December  he  was  admitted  for  a  few 
moments  to  the  presence  of  the  king,  and 
in  a  few  words  explained  why  he  had  come 
from  the  Indies,  how  the  Indians  were 
there  perishing  daily  and  disappearing  by 
the  thousands,  dying  without  faith  and 
without  the  sacraments,  and  how  the  Spa 
niards  were  responsible  for  their  deaths. 
The  Clerigo  knew  full  and  well  that  Fer 
dinand's  predominant  passion  was  avarice, 
and  he  did  not  neglect  to  say  that  the 
Crown  was  vitally  interested  in  the  preser 
vation  of  the  American  natives.  He  then 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    119 

begged  the  king  to  give  him  an  oppor 
tunity  of  speaking  to  him  more  leisurely 
about  American  affairs  whenever  it  would 
suit  His  Majesty  to  grant  him  another 
audience.  It  was  granted  ;  and  there  and 
then  the  king  made  an  appointment  to 
meet  again  the  Transatlantic  Clergyman 
one  day  within  the  Octave  of  Christmas. 
The  Clerigo  presented  Deza's  letter  and 
then,  kissing  the  royal  hand,  withdrew. 
The  reader  must  have  already  perceived 
that  the  Clerigo  would  have  made  no  mean 
diplomatist ;  but  hi's  adversaries  were  more 
than  his  matches.  Deza's  letter  naturally 
went  to  Fonseca  and  to  Conchillos.  Those 
two  worthies  were  fully  acquainted  with 
Las  Casas7  doings  in  the  Indies  during  the 
past  two  or  three  years. 

Velasquez  was  but  the  lieutenant  of 
Diego  Columbus  in  Cuba,  who,  in  virtue 
of  his  prerogatives  of  viceroy  of  all  the 
islands  discovered  by  his  father,  was,  ex- 
officio,  Governor  of  Cuba.  When  Las  Casas 
left  the  Island,  Velasquez  feared  less  the 
impetuous  Clerigo  should  mention  to  Ad 
miral  Diego  Columbus,  or  to  the  king 
something  unfavorable  to  ?  himself,  con 
cerning  the  treatment  that  the  Indians  re 
ceived  under  his  administration.  It  must 
be  mentioned  also  that  Velasquez  was  just 


I2O    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

then  treacherously  and  ungratefully  trying 
to  supplant  the  viceroy  in  Cuba,  to  whom 
he  owed  his  present  important  position. 
Panfilo  Narvaez  had  therefore  arrived  in 
Spain  about  the  same  time  as  L,as  Casas 
and  Montesino  for  the  purpose  of  frustrat 
ing  their  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Indians, 
and  especially  for  the  purpose  of  acting  as 
solicitor  for  Velasquez  in  trying  to  obtain 
for  him  the  independent  governorship  of 
Cuba.  Pasamonte,  the  royal  treasurer 
at  San  Domingo,  and  a  confidential 
creature  of  king  Ferdinand,  was  vitally 
interested  in  Indian  slavery  and  in  sup 
porting  Velasquez  by  supplanting  Diego 
Columbus.  On  the  departure  of  L,as  Casas 
.from  Cuba,  Velasquez  had  written  to  Pasa 
monte  about  the  style  of  preaching  which 
the  Clerigo  had  adopted,  and  Pasamonte 
had  sent  the  letter  to  the  two  largest  slave 
owners,  Fonseca  and  Conchillo.  Narvaez 
was  also  the  bearer  of  a  gift  to  the"  two 
State  ministers  in  the  shape  of  a  Repar- 
timiento  of  Cuban  Indians,  in  whose  terri 
tory  a  fat  gold  mine  had  lately  been  dis 
covered.  This,  it  was  thought,  would 
easily  pave  Velasquez'  way  to  the  Go 
vernorship. 

L,as  Casas'  next  step  was   to   interview 
Tomas  de  Matienso,  a  Dominican,  and  Fer- 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    121 

dinand's  present  confessor  in  order  to  prevail 
on  him  to  use  his  influence  with  the  King 
in  behalf  of  the  Indians.  Matesino  lost  no 
time  in  doing  so,  and  Ferdinand,  through 
him,  made  a  second  appointment  to  meet 
Las  Casas  in  Seville,  where,  he  promised, 
American  affairs  would  be  effectually  atten 
ded  to.  On  the  advice  of  the  royal  con 
fessor  the  Clerigo  paid  a  visit  to  the  Se 
cretary  Conchillos  and  to  his  Grace  of 
Burgos.  The  former  saw  in  the  Priest  a 
dangerous  reformer,  who,  with  his  human 
itarian  theories  might  unsettle  the  several 
transcontinental  estates,  which  had  lately 
fallen  into  his  possession.  Hence  he  received 
him  very  courteously,  flattered  him,  and 
gave  him  to  understand  that  he  might  be 
come,  if  he  chose,  the  wearer  of  the  most 
precious  mitre  in  America.  The  attempt 
at  covert  bribery  proved  futile.  ''Con 
chillos7  blandishment  and  caresses,"  says 
Las  Casas  of  himself,  "had  little  effect  on 
the  Clerigo  to  prevent  him  from  accom 
plishing  the  task,  which  God  had  inspired 
him  to  choose  as  his  own." 

The  Archbishop  was  approached  with 
more  formality  ;  a  memorial  was  prepared 
and  presented  reciting  and  describing  the 
cruel  tyranny  of  the  Spaniards  over  the 
Indians.  Fonseca  perused  it  and,  in  the 


122    Life  ofBartolonid  de  Las  Gas  as. 

presence  of  the  priest,  insultingly  remarked: 
"What  an  unwitty  fool  you  are;  what 
business  of  mine  is  it  or  of  the  King?1'  To 
which  in  stentorian  tones  the  Clerigo  re 
plied ;  "Is  it  none  of  your  business  or  of 
the  King  that  so  many  souls  should  perish? 
O  great  and  eternal  God,  whose  business 
shall  it  then  be?"  and  he  left.  Thus  Fon- 
seca,  forgetful  of  his  divine  calling,  en 
deavored  to  crush  with  the  weight  of  his 
authority  a  simple,  justice-loving  Priest. 

Las  Casas  was  in  Seville  before  the  ar 
rival  of  the  King,  acquainting  Diego  de 
Deza,  the  Archbishop,  of  the  different 
steps  he  had  taken  and  begging  him  to  use 
his  influence  in  obtaining  a  protracted 
audience  in  which  sufficient  attention 
should  be  paid  to  American  affairs.  He 
desired  that  it  should  be  held  in  the  pre 
sence  of  Fonseca  and  of  Conchillos,  in  order 
that  an  opportunity  might  be  afforded  him 
of  formulating  a  withering  indictment,  be 
fore  the  King,  of  the  two  officials,  making 
them  responsible  ior  the  murders  and  mas 
sacres  that  were  desolating  the  West  Indian 
Islands.  But  a  messenger  arrived  an 
nouncing  the  death  of  king  Ferdinand, 
which  had  taken  place  the  23d  day  of 
January  1516.  The  work  in  behalf  of  the 
unfortunate  Americans  was  to  be  done  all 
over  again. 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    123 

The  heir  to  the  throne  of  Castile  and  of 
Aragon,  Charles  V.  was  then  a  mere  boy  of 
sixteen  and  resided  in  Flanders.  Nothing- 
daunted,  L,as  Casas  resolved  to  travel  to 
that  far  off  country  to  ask  of  the  new  mon 
arch  redress  for  the  wrongs  that  were  de 
cimating  the  Indians  beyond  the  Atlantic. 
On  his  way  to  Flanders  he  stopped  at 
Madrid. 

A  bit  of  history  is  here  necessary  to  make 
clear  this  period  of  L,as  Casas'  life.  Char 
les  V.  (the  grand-son  of  king  Ferdinand), 
or  his  advisors,  had  known  for  some  time 
past  that  Ferdinand  was  in  feeble  health 
and  that  his  demise  could  not  be  far  off. 
Hence  Adrian,  the  tutor  of  Charles,  and 
Dean  of  the  University  of  L,ouvain  had 
been  sent  as  Ambassador  to  the  court  of 
Spain,  with  secret  instructions  in  writing 
to  take  charge  of  the  reins  of  government  on 
the  death  of  the  failing  monarch.  On  the 
other  hand,  Ferdinand  had  appointed  regent 
the  famous  Franciscan  Friar  Francisco 
Ximenez  de  Cisnero,  the  Cardinal  of  Spain, 
until  such  a  time  as  his  grandson  should 
take  charge  of  the  kingdom  himself.  Adrian 
(the  future  pope)  and  Ximenez  ruled 
jointly  and  harmoniously  for  nearly  two 
years,  over  the  destinies  of  the  most  power 
ful  nation  in  Christendom.  Adrian  how- 


124    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

ever,  wlio  never  learned  how  to  converse 
in  the  Spanish  language,  discreetly  allowed 
the  great  Ximenez  to  be  the  real  regent, 
contenting  himself  with  affixing  his  signa 
ture  to  all  state  papers  as  Ambassador. 

L,as  Casas  on  his  arrival  at  Madrid,  pre 
sented  to  Adrian  a  memorial  in  Latin ,  in 
which  the  cruelties  and  oppression  of  the 
Indians  were  once  more  graphically  de 
scribed.  The  document  shocked  the  Flemish 
prelate,  who  was  naturally  of  a  mild  and 
compassionate  disposition.  Without  more 
ado,  he  passed  to  the  apartments  of  Xime 
nez  (they  lodged  in  the  same  house)  and 
showed  him  the  memorial  asking  if  it  was 
possible  that  the  barbarities  therein  de 
scribed  were  being  perpetrated  in  the 
Indies.  The  Cardinal,  who  had  not  been 
left  in  ignorance  of  the  true  state  of  affairs 
in  the  Indies  by  his  brother  Friars,  the 
Franciscans,  answered  in  the  affirmative. 
"Then,"  said  Adrian,  "the  Clerigo  need  not 
go  to  Flanders  to  look  for  a  remedy  to  the 
evils  afflicting  his  protegees  beyond  the 
Atlantic.  It  shall  be  provided  for  here  and 
now  in  old  Castile."  Conferences  after  con 
ferences  were  held  between  L,as  Casas, 
Ximenez  and  Adrian,  in  which  one  Licen- 
ciado  Zapata,  Doctor  Carbajal  and  Palacios 
Rubios,  all  eminent  jurists,  disinterested  in 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    125 

Indian  slavery,  and  lovers  of  justice  also 
took  part.  Fonseca  and  Conchillos  were 
carefully  excluded,  and  Indian  affairs  were, 
for  the  first  time  attended  to  without  their 
baneful  cooperation.  The  laws  enacted  in 
1512  ostensibly  for  the  protection  of  the 
Indians  were  carefully  gone  over  and 
studied.  They  were  unjust,  Las  Casas 
claimed,  and  the  King  had  been  cajoled 
into  signing  them  by  his  ministers,  who 
were  interested  in  Indian  slavery.  They 
did  not  provide  for  the  proper  feeding  and 
maintenance  of  the  wretches,  while  they 
were  at  work  for  the  Spaniards  in  the 
mines  and  in  the  fields.  Hence  they  died 
by  the  thousands  of  starvation  and  want. 
Only  on  Sunday  were  they  allowed  any 
meat,  as  one  of  the  laws  provided  that  each 
Indian  should  be  given  one  pound  of  it  a 
week. 

At  one  of  the  meetings,  at  which  the 
Clerigo  made  the  foregoing  pleading,  the 
private  secretary  of  Conchillos  was  called 
and  made  to  produce  the  law  and  to  read  it. 
The  scribe  read  it,  not  as  it  had  been  en 
acted,  but  interpolating  words  that  were 
intended  to  shield  his  master  from  shame. 
"That  law,"  said  L,as  Casas,  "says  no  such 
a  thing." 

The  Cardinal  called  upon  the  clerk  to 
read  it  a  second  time. 


126    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

It  was  done  ;  but  the  interpolation  was 
inserted  again. 

"That  law  says  no  such  thing,"  repeated 
the  priest,  who  knew  it  by  heart,  this  time 
in  thundering  tones. 

Ximenez  vexed  at  his  boldness,  said : 
4 'Be  silent,  or  otherwise  mind  your  words." 

L,as  Casas  :  "May  it  please  your  lyordship 
to  have  my  head  cut  off  if  what  that  in 
dividual  has  just  read  is  contained  in  the 
law." 

The  manuscript  was  snatched  from  the 
clerk's  hands  and  it  proved  that  the  Clerigo 
was  correct,  and  that  an  attempt  had  been 
made  at  forgery,  if  not  in  writing,  in  word. 

The  outcome  of  the  conferences  was  the 
appointment  of  Doctor  Palacios  Rubios 
(who  always  proved  himself  the  friend  of 
the  Indians)  and  of  Las  Casas  as  a  com 
mittee  to  devise  means  and  measures  which 
would  insure  justice  and  protection  to  the 
oppressed  American  natives.  At  the  sug 
gestion  of  the  Clerigo,  Father  Montesino, 
who  had  just  arrived  in  Madrid,  was  added 
to  the  Committee.  But  he  and  Palacios 
Rubios,  fully  aware  that  L,as  Casas,  by  his 
fifteen  years  residence  in  Hispaniola  and 
Cuba,  better  than  anyone  else,  had  learned 
how  deep  the  knife  should  sink  to  cure 
Spanish  corruption  and  Spanish  tyranny, 


Life  oj  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    127 

and  knowing  the  Clerigo  to  be  a  jurist  of 
no  mean  calibre,  left  to  him  the  task  of 
drafting  a  scheme  of  legislation  that  would 
shield  the  helpless  Indian  against  the 
rapacity  and  cruelty  of  the  white  man. 
The  ground  work  of  the  report  which  the 
Clerigo  made  in  a  few  days  was : 

ist.  The  system  of  Repartimientos  must 
be  abolished  in  toto,  and  the  Indians  treated 
like  other  free  vassals  of  the  Crown. 

2d.  Spaniards  in  the  Indies  must  hence 
forth  live  of  their  own  industry,  commerce 
or  labor  as  best  they  can,  instead  of  spend 
ing  their  time  in  demoralizing  idleness  or 
in  making  slaves  of  the  natives  as  they  had 
done  heretofore. 

Montesino  and  Palacios  Rubios  approved 
the  report,  the  latter  polishing  it  and  giving 
it  the  proper  form  of  a  state  paper.  This 
was  read  and  approved,  with  slight  modi 
fications  by  the  full  Council  of  State. 
Decrees  were  then  formulated,  and  L,as 
Casas  entrusted  with  the  task  of  pointing 
out  or  suggesting  a  person  or  persons  well 
qualified,  in  his  opinion,  to  execute  them. 
The  decrees  meant  nothing  less  than  the 
revolutionizing  of  all  economical  conditions 
in  the  American  colonies,  the  shattering 
of  fortunes  already  made  or  in  a  fair  way 
to  be  made,  and  the  placing  of  the  masters 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

on  a  level  witli  their  slaves.  No  easy  task; 
nor  were  all  the  necessary  qualifications  to 
such  an  executive  officer  easily  to  be  found 
in  the  same  individual  or  individuals.  Add 
to  this  that  the  Clerigo  had  been  absent 
from  Spain  since  he  had  left  the  academi 
cal  halls  of  the  University  of  Salamanca, 
and  was  acquainted  with  few  of  his  own 
countrymen.  Very  wisely  therefore  he 
decided  to  leave  the  choice  of  the  personal 
to  Ximenez,  and  contented  himself  with 
pointing  out  the  qualifications  that  he 
should  possess,  who  would  accept  this  im 
portant  and  difficult  mission. 

Experience  had  shown  that  men  were 
easily  blinded  by  the  glitter  of  American 
gold.  Pasamonte,  Diego  Columbus,  Ovan- 
do,  Bobadilla,  the  great  Genoese  mariner 
himself,  one  and  all  had  been,  more  or 
less,  affected  by  it.  Evidently  the  proper 
man  to  effect  a  reformation  should  have  no 
worldly  interest  to  nurse,  and  no  longing 
for  self  agrandisement  to  satisfy.  The 
great  Dominican  and  Franciscan  Orders 
could  furnish  many  men,  able  and  saintly, 
who,  bound  by  vows  of  poverty  and  obe 
dience,  were  proof  against  the  temptations 
of  avarice  and  ambition.  But  the  remem 
brance  was  yet  fresh  in  the  minds  of  all 
how  Montesino,  a  Dominican,  and  Espinal, 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    129 

a  Franciscan,  had  appeared  in  Court  five 
years  before;  Montesino  to  plead  for  the 
Indians,  and  Kspinal  to  defend  the  Spani 
ards.  While  it  seemed  desirable  that  one 
or  more  members  of  a  religious  community 
should  be  sent  beyond  the  seas,  as  officers 
of  the  Crown,  to  free  the  Americans  from 
the  thraldom  of  servitude,  it  was  at  the 
same  time  advisable  to  avoid  creating  any 
jealousy  between  the  two  powerful,  and,  to 
some  extent,  rival  mendicant  Orders.  Xi- 
menez  therefore  cast  his  eyes  on  the  monks 
of  St.  Jerome,  then  numerous  in  Spain, 
and  requested  their  Superior  General  to 
select,  from  amongst  his  subjects,  three  men 
to  go  to  America  to  set  the  Indians  free. 
The  Superior  promised  to  make  an  answer 
in  a  few  weeks.  Meanwhile  a  general 
Chapter  of  the  Order  was  held  in  their 
mother  house  of  San  Bartolome  de  Supiana, 
and  twelve  monks  were  selected,  out  of 
which  number,  the  Cardinal  could  make 
his  choice  of  three,  or  of  as  many  as  would 
be  of  service  to  the  mission. 

Nearly  a  year  had  now  elapsed  since  L,as 
Casas'  arrival  in  Spain.  The  American 
Clerigo's  doings  had  become  well  known  to 
his  enemies,  and  to  the  enemies  of  the  In 
dians,  while  it  was  no  secret  that  the  great 
Cardinal  regent  and  Adrian  had  formed  an 
9 


130    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

exalted  opinion  of  the  American  priest. 
Ximenez  had  more  than  once  praised  his 
zeal  in  the  presence  of  the  highest  court 
officials  extolling  his  disinterestedness  in 
corning  from  so  far  and  in  crossing  the 
dangerous  Atlantic  at  his  own  expense, 
with  no  worldly  motive  in  view,  but  for  the 
exclusive  purpose  of  pleading  in  belialf  of 

of  a  downtrodden  race The  Cardinal 

had  said  on  a  certain  occasion,  when  Las 
Casas  had  just  left  his  presense,  "no  doubt 
this  Clerigo  was  sent  here  by  divine  Pro 
vidence.  n  After  another  conference  be 
tween  the  two  cardinals  and  the  priest 
Adrian  remarked  "Multa  mirabilla  audi- 
vimus  de  Johanne^  applying  the  words  to 
Las  Casas. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  the  American 
priest  soon  became  the  object  of  the  hatred 
and  of  the  calumnies  of  the  Spanish  colo 
nists.  It  had  been  learned  in  Santo  Do 
mingo,  Cuba,  Jamaica,  Porto  Rico  etc.  that 
the  Licenciado  had  not  gone  to  Paris  to 
study,  but  that  he  was  at  court,  they  said, 
plotting  to  ruin  them.  Hence  delegation 
after  delegation  arrived  in  Spain  from 
America  to  endeavor  to  undo  his  work. 
Ximenez  was  an  uncompromising  lover  of 
justice.  He  had  not  always  been  a  Friar, 
and  knew  the  world,  especially  his  country- 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    131 

men,  and  like  all  great  statesmen  was  a 
reader  of  men's  character.  The  slave 
owners  of  America  dared  not  approach  the 
stern  old  Regent,  but  they  swarmed  around 
the  three  Monks  who  had  been  selected  as 
the  heralds  of  liberty  to  the  red  man. 
While  waiting  in  Madrid  for  their  creden 
tials  and  other  documents  defining  their 
duties,  and  the  extent  of  their  powers  and 
jurisdiction  in  American  affairs,  the  v/ell 
meaning,  but  unexperienced  Jeronimites, 
who  had  seldom  looked  beyond  the  walls 
of  their  monastic  cells,  lodged  at  first  with 
L,as  Casas.  But  they*  soon  thought  it 
necessary  to  learn  from  his  opponents  also 
the  true  conditions  of  the  Indians,  and  thus 
allowed  their  minds  to  be  poisoned  by  the 
misrepresentations,  insinuations,  lies  and 
calumnies  of  the  Spanish  colonists.  They 
removed  to  a  hospital  kept  by  some  lay 
brothers  of  their  Order,  where  they  felt 
freer  to  listen  to  whosoever  had  aught  to 
tell  them  about  the  Indies.  When  a  ship 
was  at  last  placed  at  their  disposal,  on 
which  they  were  to  cross  the  Atlantic,  they 
alleged  frivolous  pretexts,  but  politely  re 
fused  to  have  the  Clerigo  as  their  travelling 
companion,  although  the  latter  had  been 
appointed  as  their  official  advisor.  Before 
leaving  Madrid  their  dispositions  and  their 


132    Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

prejudices  had  become  so  well  known  that 
it  was  feared  by  well  meaning  men,  that 
little  good  would  be  done  to  the  Indians 
by  their  mission.  Good  Palacios  Rubios 
chanced  one  day  to  hear  their  views  and 
remarked:  "Upon  my  faith,  Fathers,  it 
seems  to  me  that  you  have  little  of  that 
charity,  which  is  necessary  to  the  proper 
management  of  this  important  affair  with 
which  the  King  has  entrusted  you."  He 
then  went  to  Ximenez  to  persuade  him  to 
abandon  the  idea  of  sending  the  Monks  to 
America.  But  the  Cardinal  was  found 
dangerously  ill,  and  could  not  be  seen ; 
while  Palacios  had  to  leave  the  capital  for 
other  official  duties.  Ximenez  recovered, 
and  lost  no  time  in  drafting  the  several 
decrees  and  instructions  by  which  Las 
Casas,  the  three  monks  and  Alonzo  de 
Zuazo,  who  was  to  go  to  the  Indies  as  Judge 
de  Residentia^  were  to  be  governed.  It 
must  be  remarked  that  Judges  de  Residentia 
had  power  to  investigate  the  official  con 
duct  of  government  officers,  and  to  try  them 
for  their  delinquencies.  Zuazo' s  juris 
diction  extended  to  all  the  Crown  officers 
in  America.  The  decrees,  the  execution 
of  which  was  entrusted  to  the  Jeronimites, 
were  quite  numerous.  By  one  of  these  they 
were  commanded,  on  their  arrival  in  Ame- 


Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    133 

rica,  to  deprive  at  once  the  members  of  the 
Royal  Council  and  other  Spaniards  not  re 
siding  in  the  Indies  of  their  Repartimien- 
tos.  As  this  decree  was  the  work  of  the 
Clerigo  and  by  him  executed,  it  may  be  im 
agined  if  the  love  of  Fonseca,  Conchillos, 
etc.  was  thereby  increased.  A  second  one 
also  deprived  all  the  judges  and  other  Crown 
officers  in  America  of  their  Indians.  By  a 
third  Zuazo  was  instructed  to  try  them  all 
for  maladministration  and  malfeasance  in 
office.  The  instructions  given  to  the 
monks  of  St.  Jerome  were  minute  and 
voluminous.  They  were  the  work  of  Las 
Casas,  although  mutilated  and  disfigured 
by  the  Council  of  State.  They  substan 
tially  contain  the  legislation  adopted  twenty 
five  years  after  (through  the  efforts  of  Las 
Casas)  by  which  perhaps  the  majority  of 
the  native  Americans  of  Mexico,  Central 
and  South  America  were  saved,  civilized  and 
christianized.  They  form  one  of  the  most 
important  documents  concerning  the  early 
history  of  America,  which,  as  far  as  I  know, 
has  never  appeared  in  English.  I  shall 
therefore  give  it  in  full  under  its  own  ori 
ginal  title  of : 


134   Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

Memorial  or  Instruction  to  be  given  to  the 
Fathers,  who,  by  command  of  His  Most 
Reverend  Lordship  (Ximenez)  and  of  the 
Senor  Ambassador  are  going  to  reform 
the  Indies. 

"The  first  thing  to  be  done  by  the 
Fathers,  who  are  going  thither,  as  far  as 
can  be  done,  is  to  visit  personally  each 
Island,  in  order  to  inform  themselves  of  the 
number  of  the  Caciques  and  the  number  of 
their  respective  Indians,  and  of  all  other 
Indians  to  be  found  in  each  one  of  the 
Islands.  They  must  next  find  out  how 
they  (the  Indians)  have  been  treated  by 
the  individuals  to  whose  Repartimientos 
they  belong,  and  by  the  governors,  judges 
and  other  ministers.  Let  them  reduce  to 
writing  their  findings,  in  order  that  proper 
measures  may  be  adopted  in  the  premises. 
While  visiting  the  Islands,  especially 
Hispaniola,  Cuba,  San  Juan  (Porto  Rico) 
and  Jamaica  let  them  study  the  topography, 
particularly  in  the  neighborhoods  where 
gold  mines  are  located,  and  let  them  take 
notes  of  the  places  which  are  well  suited 
for  the  establishing  of  villages,  whence  the 
Indians  may  conveniently  attend  the  work 
of  the  mines  and  where  rivers  be  found  for 
their  fisheries  and  good  lands  to  cultivate. 
L,et  them  begin  their  work  in  Hispaniola 


Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    135 

and  Jamaica  and  push  thence  to  Cuba  and 
San  Juan.  The  villages  to  be  established 
should  be  composed  of  about  three  hundred 
families  each,  and  as  many  houses  should 
be  built  as  necessary  according  to  their 
customs;  and  the  same  should  be  sufficiently 
large  to  accommodate  an  increase  in  the 
families,  which  increase,  no  doubt,  will 
come  by  the  grace  of  God. 

A  church,  as  good  as  means  will  allow, 
must  be  built  in  each  village  with  a  public 
square  in  front  of  it,  and  regular  streets.* 
A.  house  larger  and  better  than  the  others 
must  be  built  for  the  Cacique  on  the  public 
square,  because  it  will  naturally  become 
the  meeting  place  for  the  gatherings  of  the 
villagers.  In  locating  the  pueblo  (village) 
the  wishes  of  the  Cacique  should  be  grati 
fied  as  much  as  possible,  in  order  that  their 
feelings  may  not  be  wounded  in  their 
having  to -change  their  place  of  habitation. 
Let  the  Fathers  explain  to  them  that  all 
these  things  are  done  for  their  welfare  and 
in  order  that  they  be  better  treated  than 

*  The  sameness  of  arrangement  in  the  public 
buildings,  of  churches  and  of  streets  in  almost  every 
old  village,  town  or  city  of  Mexico,  Central  and 
South  America,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  and  from  Texas  to  Argentine  and  Chili  at 
tracts  the  attention  of  every  traveller.  It  had  its 
origin  in  this  Memorial  and  is  therefore  attributable 
to  L,as  Casas. 


136    Life  oj  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

heretofore.  As  to  those  who  are  found  far 
away  from  the  mines,  let  them  form  pueblos 
in  their  own  neighborhoods  and  let  them 
there  raise  cattle,  breadstuff s,  cotton  and 
other  things,  and  out  of  them  let  them  pay 
a  reasonable  tribute  or  tax  to  the  king. 
This  must  be  done  in  those  Islands  where 
gold  is  not  found,  which  nevertheless  should 
remain  inhabited,  because  it  would  grieve 
the  Indians  to  remove  to  some  far  away 
point,  and  because  climatic  changes  would 
be  dangerous  to  them.  The  Savannah 
(level  lands  around  the  City  of  San 
Domingo)  must  remain  inhabited  on  ac 
count  of  its  proximity  to  the  port,  and  the 
advantages  it  affords  to  the  commerce  with 
Cuba  and  the  continent. 

Proper  territorial  boundaries  should  be 
assigned  to  the  pueblos,  giving  to  each  of 
them  enough  of  the  adjacent  land,  thus 
providing  for  that  increase  of  population 
which  is  expected  through  the  grace  of 
God.  The  best  of  these  lands  should  be 
parcelled  out  among  the  villagers  in  pro 
portion  to  the  size  of  their  families  and  to 
their  social  rank,  so  that  they  may  plant 
trees  and  other  things,  and  raise  cazabe  to 
make  their  bread.  To  the  Caciques  should 
be  assigned  four  times  as  much  land  as  to 
an  ordinary  man  of  the  people.  The  rest 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    137 

of  the  land  should  be  left  in  common  for 
raising  hogs  and  grazing  cattle.  The  Ca 
ciques  and  their  Indians  must  be  settled  in 
villages  to  be  founded  in  the  neighborhood 
of  their  native  homes  in  order  that  they 
may  gather  into  them  cheerfully.  L,et 
negotiations  be  entered  into  with  the  Ca 
ciques  with  a  view  to  their  bringing  their- 
people  into  the  villages  of  their  own  free 
accord,  if  possible,  without  any  other  in 
ducement,  and  let  the  Caciques  exercise 
care  in  governing  and  ruling  over  their 
people  in  the  manner  to  be  stated  hereafter. 
If  the  Indians  of  one  Cacique  be  numerous 
enough  to  form  a  pueblo  alone,  let  them 
do  it ;  if  not,  let  a  sufficient  number  of  the 
nearest  ones  bring  their  subjects  together, 
and  let  each  Cacique  continue  to  exercise 
authority  over  his  own  Indians,  and  let 
the  minor  chiefs  obey  him,  whom  they 
were  accustomed  to  recognize  as  their 
superior,  who  should  be  given  jurisdiction 
over  the  entire  pueblo  jointly  with  the 
Friar  or  secular  Priest  in  charge  of  the 
administration  of  the  pueblo.  If  any  pre 
sent  or  future  Spanish  settler  shall  desire  to 
marry  an  heiress  to  a  Caciqueship,  when 
no  male  heir  should  be  living,  let  it  be 
done  with  the  consent  of  the  acting  parish 
priest  and  the  administrator  of  the  pueblo. 


138    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

The  Spaniard  so  married  shall  be  recog 
nized,  obeyed  and  served  as-  trie  Cacique 
his  predecessor,  in  the  same  manner  as 
other  Caciques.  Thus  it  will  soon  come  to 
pass  that  all  the  Caciques  will  be  Spaniards 
and  many  expenses  will  be  spared. 

Bach  pueblo  must  have  its  own  separate 
jurisdiction,  and  its  Cacique  must  exercise 
it  not  only  over  the  delinquents  from 
amongst  his  own  people,  but  also  over  the 
subjects  of  the  inferior  chiefs,  who  may  be 
living  in  that  pueblo.  This  must  be  un 
derstood  only  of  minor  offences  punishable 
with  nothing  worse  than  a  whipping,  and 
even  this  must  not  be  done  without  the 
consent  of  the  Religious  or  Clerigo  in 
charge  of  the  parish.  Jurisdiction  over 
more  serious  crimes  belongs  to  the  king's 
civil  courts.  If  the  Caciques  themselves 
should  do  what  they  ought  not,  or  infringe 
upon  the  rights  of  their  inferiors,  it  shall 
be  the  duty  of  the  ordinary  civil  tribunals 
to  punish  them.  The  officers  of  the  pueblo 
shall  be  elected  by  the  acting  parish  priest, 
the  Cacique  and  the  administrator,  and  in 
case  of  disagreement  by  a  majority  of  them. 
And,  as  it  is  necessary  that  good  order  be 
established  and  maintained  in  each  pueblo, 
it  is  deemed  advisable  that  an  administrator 
be  appointed  for  one,  two,  three  or  more 


Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    139 

villages  according  to  the  number  of  people 
in  them,  who  should  live  in  a  stone  house 
in  some  centrally  located  place,  but  not 
within  the  precincts  of  the  pueblo  itself,  in 
order  that  the  Indians  may  not  be  harassed 
by  the  members  of  his  household,  or  quarrel 
with  them.  The  administrator  should  be  a 
Spanish  settler  and  a  conscientious  man, 
chosen  from  among  those  who  are  known 
to  have  always  treated  well  the  Indians  of 
their  Repartimientos,  and  whose  character 
should  give  promise  that  he  will  fulfill  the 
duties  of  his  office  faithfully.  These  duties 
shall  be  to  visit  the  pueblo  or  pueblos  of 
his  charge,  see  to  it  that  the  Caciques, 
especially  the  principal  one  of  each  place, 
make  their  Indians  adopt  and  live  according 
to  the  rules  of  civilized  life,  each  one  in  his 
own  house  and  with  his  own  family  ;  that 
he  make  them  attend  to  their  work  in  the 
mines,  in  the  fields,  in  raising  cattle  and 
other  things  which  the  Indians  should  do, 
as  shall  be  hereinafter  explained.  He 
must  be  forbidden  from  molesting  the  In 
dians,  and  from  making  them  work  with 
promises  of  rewards,  more  than  they  are 
obliged  to.  He  should  also  be  made  to 
understand  that  he  is  responsible  to  God 
for  any  abuse  of  his  power.  Upon  assum 
ing  the  duties  of  his  office  he  should  be 


140  Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

made  to  take  a  solemn  oath  to  perform 
them  conscientiously;  and  if  ever  after  he 
fails  to  do  so,  he  shall  be  punished  by  the 
courts  according  to  the  laws  of  his  Majesty, 
the  King.  For  the  proper  performance  of 
his  duties  he  should  keep  with  him  three 
or  four  Spaniards  from  Castile  or  from  some 
other  part  of  Spain;  and  a  sufficient  number 
of  arms.  He  should  not  allow  the  Caci 
ques  or  their  Indians  to  keep  in  their  pos 
session  any  weapons  belonging  to  them 
selves,  except  such  as  shall  be  deemed 
,  necessary  to  hunt.  If  he  should  choose,  or 
if  it  should  be  found  necessary  to  keep 
more  employees,  he  may  do  so,  provided 
that  he  pays  them  a  competent  salary  in 
the  presence  of  the  parish  priest.  He  shall 
also  be  allowed  to  keep,  as  members  of  his 
household,  not  more  than  six  Indians,  pro 
vided  they  enter  his  service  of  their  free 
accord,  provided  he  shall  not  send  them 
to  work  in  the  mines,  but  employ  them 
only  on  his  own  premises,  and  provided 
they  remain  free  to  quit  his  service  and  re 
turn  to  the  pueblo  to  which  they  belong 
whenever  they  should  become  dissatisfied 
with  their  position.  The  administrator 
and  the  Religious  or  Clerigo  must  do  their 
best  to  reduce  the  Caciques  and  their  In 
dians  to  a  civilized  manner  of  life,  making 


LifeofBartolomddeLasCasas.    141 

them  wear  clothes,  sleep  in  beds,  and  take 
care  of  the  implements  or  other  articles 
entrusted  to  their  keeping.  They  must  see 
to  it  that  each  man  be  satisfied  to  live 
with  his  own  and  lawful  wife,  not  allowing 
him  to  quit  her,  and  that  the  women  live 
chastely.  If  any  of  them  should  commit 
adultery,  on  the  complaint  of  her  husband, 
the  Cacique  must  punish  her  and  her 
accomplice,  although  the  punishment  must 
not  exceed  a  whipping  administered  with 
the  consent  of  the  administrator  and  of  the 
acting  parish  priest.  L,et  him  likewise 
take  care  that  the  Cacique  or  their  Indians 
do  not  gamble,  barter,  sell  or  give  away 
their  belongings  without  his  own  or  the 
priest's  permission.  An  exception  must 
be  made  for  eatables  or  of  bona  fide  alms. 
They  should  not  be  permitted  to  eat  on  the 
floor.  The  administrators  must  draw  a 
salary  proportionate  to  their  charge,  their 
work  and  their  necessary  expenses.  Half 
of  their  salaries  shall  be  paid  by  the  King, 
and  the  other  half  by  the  pueblo  or  pu 
eblos  by  them  administered.  The  adminis 
trators  must  be  married  men,  in  order  that 
the  inconveniences,  which  otherwise  might 
arise,  may  be  avoided,  unless  a  person  be 
found  of  such  a  character  that  he  may  be 
trusted,  even  if  he  is  not  married.  One  of 


142   Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

the  administrator's  duties  shall  be  to  keep 
a  registry  of  all  trie  Caciques,  and  of  the 
number  of  persons  in  each  family  and  in 
each  pueblo,  in  order  that,  if  any  one 
should  run  away,  absent  himself,  or  fail  to 
do  his  duty,  it  may  be  easily  found  out. 

In  order  that  the  Indians  may  be  pro 
perly  instructed  in  our  holy  faith,  and 
their  spiritual  wants  properly  attended  to, 
there  must  be  in  each  pueblo  a  Religious 
or  a  Clerigo,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  give 
them  instructions  adapted  to  their  capacity, 
to  administer  the  sacraments  and  to  preach 
to  them  on  Sundays  and  Feastdays  and  to 
make  them  understand  how,  and  why  they 
should  pay,  for  God's  sake,  the  tithes  or 
the  first  fruits  of  the  earth  to  the  Church 
and  her  ministers,  who  hear  their  confes 
sions,  and  minister  them  the  sacraments, 
bury  them,  when  dead,  and  pray  for  them. 
The  priest  must  see  that  they  attend  Mass 
and  sit  in  good  order  in  church,  the  men 
on  one  side  and  the  women  on  the  other. 
The  clergyman  shall  be  bound  to  say  Mass 
on  Sundays  and  Feastdays  and  on  what 
ever  other  days  he  shall  choose  to  do  so.  He 
shall  also  see  that  Mass  be  said  on  Sundays 
and  Feastdays  in  the  churches,  which 
shall  be  erected  at  the  mining  camps. 
The  clergymen's  salaries  shall  be  paid  out 


Life  ofBartolom£  de  Las  Casas.    143 

of  the  tithes  of  each  pueblo,  and  they  shall 
also  be  entitled  to  ordinary  perquisites  and 
offerings  that  may  be  made  voluntarily  by 
men  or  women  of  cazabe,  chili  etc.  They 
shall  not  be  entitled  to  any  fees  for  hearing 
confessions,  administering  the  other  sa 
craments,  marrying  people,  or  for  burying 
the  dead.  In  the  afternoons  of  Sundays 
and  Feastdays  they  shall  ring  the  church 
bells,  and  call  together  the  people  to  teach 
them  catechism ;  and,  should  anybody 
refuse  to  come,  he  must  be  punished  mode 
rately,  and  the  punishment  must  be  ad 
ministered  publicly,  in  order  that  it  may 
serve  as  a  warning  to  others. 

A  sacristan  must  also  be  appointed  to 
attend  to  the  church.  He  should  be  an 
Indian,  if  a  competent  one  be  found  in  the 
pueblo ;  if  not,  a  white  man  must  be  se 
lected.  It  shall  be  his  duty  to  teach  the 
Indian  children,  especially  the  sons  of  the 
Caciques,  how  to  read,  write  and  speak 
the  Spanish  language  until  they  shall  be 
nine  years  of  age.  He  must  also  do  his 
best  to  induce  the  Caciques  and  their 
people  to  speak  Spanish.  A  hospice  must 
also  be  built  in  the  pueblo,  wherein  to 
shelter  and  to  care  for  the  sick,  and  for 
aged  persons,  who  can  work  no  longer,  as 
well  as  for  the  orphan  children.  For  the 


144    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

maintenance  of  the  liospice  the  pueblo 
shall  be  required  to  make  and  to  cultivate 
a  plantation  of  50,000  Montones.*  As  it 
is  provided  that  a  married  man  with  his 
wife  be  given  charge  of  the  establishment, 
it  shall  be  his  duty  to  solicit  contributions 
to  help  supporting  it ;  and  inasmuch  as  the 
market,  for  the  selling  of  meat,  shall  be 
public  property,  a  pound  of  meat  shall  be 
given  daily  for  every  inmate  of  the  hospice, 
the  keeper  and  his  wife  included.  The 
distribution  of  the  meat  shall  be  made  in 
the  presence  of  the  Cacique  or  of  the  parish 
priest.  The  male  Indians  of  each  pueblo, 
twenty  years,  of  age,  and  not  over  fifty, 
shall  be  bound  to  the  following  contri 
bution  of  labor.  At  all  times  one  third  of 
them  shall  be  employed  in  the  work  of  the 
mines,  and,  if  any  be  sick  or  disabled,  they 
must  be  substituted  by  others,  out  of  the 
other  two-thirds.  They  shall  go  to  work 
at  sunrise,  or  shortly  after,  and  after  the 
noonday  meal,  they  shall  have,  for  rest  and 
recreation,  three  hours  ;  after  which  they 
shall  work  until  sunset.  Every  able-bodied 
man  shall  be  employed  in  the  work  of  the 
mines  four  months  of  the  year,  at  such 
times  as  the  Cacique  may  designate,  pro 
vided  that  one-third  of  them  be  always  at 

*  The  artificial   heaps  or  hills  of   dirt,  in  which 
the  cazabe  was  cultivated,  were  called  montones. 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    145 

work.  Women  shall  not  be  obliged  to 
work  in  the  mines,  unless  they  do  so  of 
their  own  accord,  and  with  their  husband's 
consent.  When  so  employed  each  one  of 
them  shall  count  as  one  man  in  making  the 
one-third  spoken  of  above.  Let  the  Caci 
ques  send  their  men  to  work  in  squads,  and 
with  each  squad  a  foreman,  who  must  be 
selected  from  among  the  Indians  them 
selves  ;  whose  duty  shall  be  to  make  his 
men  work,  to  show  them  how  to  gather 
the  gold,  and  to  act  in  the  capacity  of 
miner  ;  for  experience  has  taught  that  it  is 
not  advisable  to  have  Spaniards  act  as 
miners  or  taskmasters.  When  an  Indian 
shall  have  given  the  number  of  work-days 
required  of  him,  he  shall  be  allowed  to  re 
turn  to  his  home  to  properly  work  the  land 
allotted  to  him,  and  the  Cacique,  the  acting 
parish  priest  and  the  administrator  must 
see  to  it,  that  he  work  it  properly. 

As  the  Cacique  naturally  will  require 
much  work  for  the  cultivation  of  his  land, 
every  one  of  his  Indians  shall  be  required 
to  contribute  fifteen  days  without  wages  or 
board  each  year,  and  the  children,  the 
women,  and  old  men  must  attend  to  keep 
ing  his  crops  free  from  grass,  whenever 
necessary.  The  Indians  not  at  work  in  the 
mines  must  be  compelled  to  work  moder 
ately  on  their  farms. 
10 


146    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

The  plantations  found  necessary  or  con 
venient  to  trie  establishment  of  the  pueblos 
will  be  Crown  property  ;  but  they  shall  be 
assessed  at  a  fair  valuation  and  paid  for  at 
the  first  smelting,  out  of  the  share  of  gold, 
which  shall  belong  to  the  Indians.  The 
plantations  must  then  be  parcelled  out  in 
plots,  and  one  of  these  be  assigned  to  the 
head  of  each  family,  until  such  a  time  as 
he  shall  be  able  to  reduce  to  a  state  of  cul 
tivation  the  land  which  shall  be  allotted  to 
him  in  fee  simple.  The  Cacique  must  take 
charge  of  the  cattle  on  these  plantations, 
to  use  them  in  the  manner  hereinafter 
explained.  If  possible,  each  pueblo  should 
have  ten  or  twelve  mares,  fifty  cows,  and 
one  hundred  sows.  All  these  animals  should 
at  first  remain  common  property,  and  be 
fed  at  public  expense  until  the  Indians 
shall  have  learned  and  grown  accustomed  to 
own  and  care  for  some  of  their  own.  There 
must  be  in  each  pueblo  a  butcher,  who  shall 
distribute  to  each  family  two  pounds  of 
meat  whenever  the  husband  will  be  at 
home,  and  not  at  work  in  the  mines,  and 
one  pound,  when  he  will  be  absent.  If  a 
family  requires  more  meat  it  must  procure 
it  with  its  own  industry,  as  it  must  also 
provide  for  itself,  on  abstinence  days,  when 
eating  fleshmeat  is  forbidden.  The  Caci- 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.     147 

que  must  be  given  eight  pounds  of  meat 
daily,  and  he  must  see  that  the  wives  of 
those  who  work  in  the  mines  make  their 
own  and  their  husband's  bread,  prepare 
chili,  corn  and  all  other  necessary  things, 
which  must  be  sent,  free  of  charge,  to  the 
mines  on  the  mares  mentioned  above. 
There  must  be  in  each  mine  a  butcher,  and 
each  workman  must  be  given  one  pound 
and  a  half  or  two  pounds  of  meat  a  day; 
and,  as  in  Hispaniola  fish  is  not  abundant, 
dispensation  should  be  obtained  for  eating 
neshmeat  on  some  of  the  days  of  Lent  and 
on  some  other  days  of  abstinence.  In  order 
that  the  laborers  be  provided  with  meat, 
some  of  the  cattle,  which  are  common  pro 
perty,  should  be  driven  to  the  mines  for 
their  slaughter  houses,  and  if  a  sufficient 
supply  of  them  is  not  at  hand,  others  must 
be  bought  and  paid  for  on  the  first  smelting- 
day  following. 

All  the  gold  mined  must  be  consigned 
into  the  hands  of  the  foreman  every  evening, 
as  has  been  done  heretofore,  and  when 
smel ting-day  shall  have  come,  (and  there 
must  be  one  every  two  months,  unless  His 
Majesty's  officers  should  ordain  otherwise) 
said  foreman,  the  Cacique,  and  the  ad 
ministrator  together  must  take  it  to  the 
smeltery  and  see  that  every  thing  be  done 


148    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

honestly.  The  gold  must  tlien  be  divided 
in  three  parts,  one  of  which  shall  go  to  the 
king,  and  the  other  two  to  the  Caciques 
and  to  the  Indians  to  pay  for  the  plan 
tations  and  cattle  that  were  bought  for  the 
pueblo  and  to  meet  all  expenses  made  in 
common.  The  remainder  must  be  divided  in 
to  equal  shares  among  the  heads  of  families, 
the  Cacique  counting  as  six,  and  the  fore 
man  as  two.  With  his  share  of  gold  mined 
each  laborer  must  provide  his  own  tools, 
which  shall  remain  his  own  property.  But 
in  order  that  said  tools  be  properly  looked 
after,  an  account  of  them  must  be  kept 
in  writing.  If  the  whole  amount  shall 
not  thus  have  been  disposed  of,  the 
Clerigo  and  administrator  shall  buy  for 
the  laborers  clothing,  and  a  dozen 
chickens  and  a  cock,  and  what  other 
things  shall  be  thought  necessary  to  his 
family ;  and  in  order  that  care  be  taken 
of  these  personal  articles,  a  record  shall  be 
kept  of  them  also.  If  a  balance  should  yet 
remain  in  favor  of  the  laborer,  it  shall  be 
given  in  trust  to  some  honest  person,  whose 
name,  and  the  amount  received  shall  go  on 
record,  in  the  manner  that  the  Clerigo  and 
administrator  shall  deem  best,  in  order  that 
the  trustee  may  be  properly  summoned  and 
made  to  disburse  it,  whenever  he  shall  be 
called  upon  to  do  so. 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    149 

Twelve  Spaniards,  professional  miners, 
must  be  employed  to  prospect  for  and  to  dis 
cover  new  mines.  Half  of  their  salaries 
shall  be  paid  by  the  King,  and  the  other 
half  by  the  Indians'  common  fund.  As 
soon  as  a  new  mine  shall  have  been  dis 
covered,  it  must  be  turned  over  to  the  In 
dians  to  be  worked,  and  then  the  Spanish 
miners  must  proceed  to  discover  other 
mines,  leaving  behind  none  of  their  ser 
vants  or  Spanish  settlers,  in  order  that  the 
Indians  may  not  be  robbed  of  their  gold  or 
illtreated.  And  whatever  gold  the  Spanish 
miners  may  find  in  the  discharge  of  their 
duties  shall  be  turned  over  to  the  proper 
authorities  to  be  divided  between  the  King 
and  the  Indians.  Very  severe  penalties 
must  be  decreed  against  the  violators  of 
this  rule. " 

I  have  said  that  the  foregoing  document 
was  drafted  by  L,as  Casas.  But  the  in 
fluence  of  the  Spanish- American  settlers, 
who  were  then  pleading  at  court  for  their 
selfish  interests,  had  its  bad  effects.  The 
Protector  of  the  Indians,  far  from  advising 
it,  protested  against  the  enforced  labor  of 
the  natives  in  the  mines.  He  knew  full 
well  that  it  would  open  a  door  to  the  prac 
tices  of  those  abuses,  which  had  already 
caused  the  death  of  hundreds  of  thousands 


150    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

of  the  helpless  aborigines.  All  the  clauses 
relating  to  the  labor  of  the  mines  were  the 
work  of  the  royal  councillors.  The  in 
fluence  of  the  Spanish  settlers  went  farther. 
The  monks  of  St.  Jerome  were  given  a 
second  memorial  or  set  of  instructions, 
which  were  to  be  the  guide  of  their  conduct 
in  America,  in  case  that  the  instructions 
contained  in  the  first  memorial  should  be 
found  impracticable.  The  second  memorial 
was  made  up  of  amendments  to  the  laws 
enacted  four  years  before  by  king  Fer 
dinand  for  the  government  of  the  Indies. 

These  amendments  were  radical  and  all 
in  favor  of  the  Indians,  but  did  not  abolish 
the  system  of  Repartimientos  which  was 
real  slavery.  And  as  long  as  the  execution 
of  these  laws  remained  necessarily  in  the 
hands  of  the  slaveowners,  who  were  se 
parated  from  the  central  government  of 
Madrid  by  six  thousand  miles  of  water, 
they  would,  Las  Casas  knew  it,  prove  in 
effective  and  useless.  Fortunately  for  the 
Indians,  Ximenez  enacted  at  the  same  time 
another  decree,  which  has  become  perhaps 
the  best  known,  as  it  proved  the  most  bene 
ficial  of  all  the  Spanish  state  papers  con 
cerning  the  protection  of  the  American 
race.  It  ultimately  proved  their  salvation. 
It  was  addressed  to  Las  Casas  and  must  be 
given  in  full. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Las  Casas  is  made  Official  Protector  of  the 
Indians  and  Returns  to  America. 

urpO  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas,   Clerigo,  a 
native   of   Seville   and   a  resident  of 
Cuba    in   the    Indies,    the  King  and    the 
Queen." 

*  'Inasmuch  as  we  have  been  informed  that 
you  have  resided  for  a  long  time  in  those 
countries,  and  that  hence  you  are  by  ex 
perience  familiar  with  their  affairs,  es 
pecially  those  wherein  the  welfare  of  the 
Indians  is  concerned,  and  inasmuch  as  you, 
by  contact  with  them,  have  become  well 
acquainted  with  their  customs  and  manner 
of  living,  and  whereas  we  know  that  you 
are  zealous  in  the  service  of  God  and  our 
own,  which  makes  us  hope  that  you  will 
comply  carefully  and  diligently  with  our 
commands  and  the  duties  of  the  charge  we 
hereby  give  you,  and  that  you -will  work 
for  the  welfare  of  the  souls  and  bodies  of 
the  Spaniards  as  well  as  of  the  Indians  ; 
therefore,  by  these  presents  we  command 
that  you  go  to  the  Indies,  to  Hispaniola,  to 
Cuba,  to  Porto  Rico,  to  Jamaica  and  to  the 


152    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

Continent,  and  that  you  advise,  counsel 
and  inform  the  devout  Fathers  of  St.  Je 
rome,  whom  we  send  to  reform  the  Indies, 
and  all  other  persons,  who  may  cooperate 
with  them,  about  all  things  concerning  the 
liberty,  humane  treatment  and  salvation  of 
the  souls  and  bodies  of  said  Indians  of  the 
afore  mentioned  Islands  and  Continent,  and 
that  you  thence  write  to  us,  that  you  inform 
us,  and  that  you  come  to  inform  us  about 
everything  done  in  said  Islands  ;  and  in 
order  that  you  may  do  everything  in  a 
proper  manner  for  the  service  of  Our  Lord 
and  our  own  in  the  performance  of  the 
duties  of  your  office,  we  hereby  give  you 
unreservedly  all  powers  directly  or  in 
directly  connected  or  annexed,  ordinarily 
or  extraordinarily  necessary  to  the  exercise 
of  your  office.  And  we  hereby  command 
our  admiral  and  the  judges  of  the  courts 
of  appeal  and  all  other  judges  in  said  Is 
lands  and  Continent,  that  they  respect  and 
cause  to  be  respected  this  power  which  we 
hereby  give  you,  and  that  they  observe  and 
cause  to  be  observed  the  spirit  and  the  letter 
of  this  decree  under  penalty  of  our  dis 
pleasure,  and  a  fine  of  ten  thousand  mara- 
vedies  for  each  offense.  Given  in  Madrid 
the  1 7th  day  of  September  1516. 

F.,  the  Cardinal. 

Adrian,  the  Ambassador. " 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    153 

These  were  very  indefinite  powers  ;  but 
their  very  latitude  furnished  Las  Casas 
with  a  weapon  wherewith  to  check  the 
excesses  of  the  Spaniards  against  the  In 
dians.  The  white  man  in  America  will 
hereafter  know  that  a  man,  who  can  neither 
be  intimidated  or  bribed,  keeps  an  eye  on 
their  conduct  and  is  ready  to  denounce  him 
to  his  sovereigns.  By  another  decree  Las 
Casas  was  declared  Universal  Procurator 
and  Protector  of  all  the  Indians  in  America, 
and  a  salary  was  assigned  to  him  of  one 
hundred  dollars  a  year,  "which,"  says  he, 
"in  those  days  was  not  inconsiderable,  as 
that  Hell  of  Peru  with  its  multitude  of 
quintals  of  gold  had  not  yet  been  dis 
covered." 

Zuazo  had  also  received  his  credentials, 
and  the  judge,  the  monks  and  the  Clerigo 
were  ready  to  sail  for  Hispaniola  to  reform 
the  Indies.  But  the  Protector  of  the  In 
dians  had  already  lost  confidence  in  the 
three  religious,  and  taking  leave  of  Xi- 
menez,  he  said  :  uSefior,  I  wish  to  be  free 
from  any  scruple  of  conscience,  and  as  I 
am  now  in  your  presence,  whom,  my  office 
requires,  I  should  keep  well  informed,  I 
speak.  Your  most  Reverend  Lordship  must 
know  that  these  monks  of  St.  Jerome,  to 
whose  hands  you  have  confided  the  des- 


154    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

tinies  of  an  infinite  number  of  souls  in 
those  parts,  will  do  no  good,  but  much 
harm."  He  explained  how  they  were 
leaving  Spain  already  prejudiced  against 
the  Indians,  whom  they  were  sent  to  ran 
som  and  protect,  and  biased  in  favor  of  the 
Spaniards,  whose  crimes  they  were  sent  to 
punish.  The  Cardinal  answered:  "Well 
then,  whom  else  shall  we  trust  ?  You  are 
going  with  them  ;  look  after  everything 
yourself."  L/as  Casas  and  the  monks 
sailed  on  different  ships  from  San  Lucar 
the  eleventh  of  September  1516  and  safely 
reached  Porto  Rico  together,  where  they 
were  all  detained  four  or  five  days.  While 
in  port  the  Protector  of  the  Indians  visited 
the  monks  and  begged  them  to  allow  him 
to  travel  on  their  ship  to  Hispaniola,  in 
asmuch  as  his  own  vessel  would  be  detained 
a  fortnight  in  Porto  Rico  to  unload.  The 
permission  was  refused. 

Ivas  Casas  began  actively  to  perform  the 
duties  of  his  office  in  Porto  Rico  itself. 
One  John  Bono,  a  shipmaster,  had  just  ar 
rived  in  port  with  a  ship  load  of  slaves, 
whom  he  had  kidnapped  in  Trinidad  in 
the  following  manner.  With  sixty  ma 
rauders,  like  himself,  he  had  appeared  be 
fore  that  Island;  and  as  the  Indians  gathered 
on  the  shore  in  large  numbers,  to  prevent, 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    155 

as  best  they  could,  a  landing,  lie  assured 
them  that  his  and  his  companions'  inten 
tions  were  peaceful  and  that  they  had  come 
to  make  a  settlement  in  their  midst.  The 
Indians  believed  him,  fed  his  people,  and 
treated  them  as  brothers.  Bono  cajoled 
the  Indians  into  believing  that  the  white 
men  wished  to  live  all  in  the  same  house  ; 
and  the  Indians  set  to  work  to  build  it  as 
capacious  as  desired.  In  a  few  days  the 
building  was  nearly  completed  and  Bono 
invited  the  natives  to  come  and  see  it. 
Some  four  hundred  of  them,  naked  and 
unarmed  had  entered  the  enclosure,  when 
the  Spaniards,  at  a  given  signal,  swords  in 
hand,  surrounded  the  building,  and  Bono 
himself  announced  to  the  bewildered  crowd, 
that  they  must  either  surrender  or  be  cut 
to  pieces.  Some  attempted  to  resist,  others 
to  flee,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  floor  was 
strewn  with  the  wounded,  the  dying,  and 
the  dead.  One  hundred  and  eighty  were 
manacled  and  placed  aboard  the  ship.  And 
still  the  cargo  was  not  yet  complete.  One 
hundred  Indians  had  fortified  themselves  in 
a  house  of  their  own,  and  were  ready  to 
defend  themselves.  Summoned  to  surren 
der,  they  refused ;  the  building  was  then 
set  on  fire  by  the  Spaniards,  and  the  one 
hundred  human  beings  cremated.  Bono, 


156    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

who  himself  detailed  to  Las  Casas  this 
act  of  vandalism,  when  asked  what  had 
prompted  him  to  such  inhuman  cruelty, 
answered  that  he  had  been  instructed  by 
the  Oidores  (judges  of  the  supreme  court) 
in  Hispaniola  to  capture  the  Indians  peace 
fully,  if  he  could,  but,  with  sword  in  hand, 
if  necessary.  L,as  Casas  lost  no  time  in  in 
forming  the  monks  of  what  had  happened. 
But  the  one  hundred  and  eighty  Indians, 
who  had  been  sold  into  slavery,  were  not 
set  free,  neither  was  Bono  or  the  Oidores 
ever  punished  for  their  crime. 

The  Clerigo  was  taking  a  stroll  on  the 
streets  of  San  Juan  de  Porto  Rico,  when  he 
heard  the  moans  and  the  cries  of  an  Indian, 
who,  tied  to  a  post,  was  being  unmercy- 
fully  whipped  by  a  visitador,  i.  e.  an  in 
spector  of  Repartimientos,  because  the 
wretch  had  attempted  to  run  away  from  his 
master,  and  had  disobeyed  him.  The  priest 
stepped  to  the  brutish  visitador  and  repri 
manded  him  for  his  cruelty.  The  scourging 
was  suspended,  but  no  sooner  had  I^as 
Casas  disappeared,  than  the  fiend  resumed 
the  flagellation  of  the  Indian.  This  too 
was  detailed  by  L,as  Casas  to  the  monks; 
but  no  good  came  of  it. 

The  reader  however  must  not  imagine 
that  the  mission  undertaken  by  the  Fathers 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    157 

was  an  easy  one.  The  great  Cardinal  XI- 
inenez  very  probably  had  not  fully  realized 
all  the  difficulties  of  the  undertaking,  and, 
not  unlikely,  the  Protector  of  the  Indians 
himself  would  have  failed  to  reform  the 
Indies  had  the  task  been  entrusted  to  him 
with  the  same  powers  that  were  conferred 
on  the  three  monks  of  St.  Jerome.  Very 
few  instances  are  recorded  in  history  of 
slavery  having  been  effectually  abolished 
in  any  country,  by  royal,  presidential,  or 
other  decrees,  without  bloodshed  and  war. 
There  is  however  no  evidence  that  the 
three  monks  made  any  serious  effort  to 
carry  out  the  first  of  the  two  sets  of  in 
structions,  which  had  been  given  them  as  a 
guide  of  their  conduct  in  the  fulfilment  of 
their  American  mission.  They  arrived  at 
the  seat  of  the  colonial  government,  San 
Domingo,  thirteen  days  before  L,as  Casas. 
The  object  of  their  coming  was  well 
known  there,  and  the  colonial  officers  and 
the  judges  received  them  in  a  manner  be 
fitting  the  representatives  of  the  Kings. 
No  time  was  lost  *in  representing  to  them 
that  if  the  Repartimientos  were  abolished, 
and  the  Indians  set  free,  the  colonies  would 
be  destroyed  ;  and  that,  without  enforced 
labor,  the  Indians  could  never  be  civilized 
or  christianized,  and  that  they  could  not 


158    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

support  themselves  side  by  side  with  the 
white  men.  The  Fathers  lent  a  willing 
ear  to  these  arguments,  and  even  before  the 
arrival  of  their  official  advisor,  if  not  con 
vinced,  were  persuaded  into  believing  that 
it  was  impossible  to  abolish  the  Repartimi- 
eiitos.  L,as  Casas  found  them  far  from  dis 
posed  to  take  immediate  steps  to  emancipate 
his  protegees.  True,  the  Repartimientos 
belonging  to  absentee  landlords,  like  Fon- 
seca,  Conchillos  etc.,  were  undone,  but  L,as 
Casas  never  succeeded  in  inducing  the 
Fathers  to  deprive  the  colonial  officers,  the 
judges,  the  governor,  the  treasurer,  etc. 
of  their  Indians.  He  represented  to  them 
daily  how  the  Indians  perished  under  the 
system,  he  detailed  to  them  the  horrors  of 
the  kidnapping  expeditions,  how  the  mines 
might  as  well  be  called  places  of  execution, 
how  the  Spaniards  oppressed,  starved  and 
murdered  the  Indians.  But  all  in  vain. 
The  Fathers  were  slow,  and  could  not  be 
aroused  to  action. 

The  impetuous  Clerigo  wished  to  see  the 
ax  fall  at  once  at  the  root  of  the  evil ;  the 
monks  reflected  and  temporized.  It  was 
no  unusual  occurrence  to  see  the  Protector 
of  the  Indians  appear  before  the  Fathers  in 
the  company  of  some  well  meaning  man  or 
woman,  who  would  corroborate  his  state- 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas.     159 

nients  about  the  illtreatment  of  the  Indians 
by  the  white  men,  or  tell  new  tales  of  cru 
elties,  of  which  they  had  been  eye  wit 
nesses.  One  day  a  brother  priest,  whose 
charge  was  at  one  of  the  mines  fifteen  or 
sixteen  miles  from  San  Domingo,  came  to 
report  to  the  Protector  of  the  Indians  how 
the  native  laborers  were  there  abused.  He 
testified,  that  he  had  seen  them  sick  from 
overwork,  lying  on  the  neighboring  hills, 
or  in  the  fields,  covered  with  flies,  and  that 
nobody  concerned  himself  enough  about 
them,  to  give  them  food  or  nourishment, 
and  that  the  owners  of  the  Repartimientos 
allowed  them  thus  to  die.  Hearing  which, 
Las  Casas  took  him  by  the  hand  and  led 
him  to  the  monks.  These  listened  impas 
sively  to  the  harrowing  rehearsal  of  the 
narrative  ;  they  first  expressed  t'hemselves 
as  if  in  doubt  of  the  veracity  of  the  priest, 
and  ended  by  palliating  and  excusing  the 
cruelty  of  the  tyrants.  The  clergyman,  a 
humane  gentleman,  who  had  come  to  in 
form  Las  Casas  out  of  pure  compassion  for 
the  Indians,  because  he  had  heard  that  he 
was  their  Procurator,  made  the  following 
answer  :  "Do  you  know,  Reverend  Fathers, 
that  I  begin  to  surmise  that  you  will  do  no 
more  good  to  these  wretched  creatures  than 
the  governors  who  preceded  you?"  Say- 


160    Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

ing  which  lie  departed,  leaving  the  three 
monks  rather  sad  and  dazed. 

Las  Casas  left  nobody  in  doubt  as  to  his 
mission  in  San  Domingo.  He  insisted 
that  the. three  commissioners  (they  were 
not  exactly  governors)  should  set  free  with 
out  delay  the  slaves  belonging  to  the 
judges,  officers  and  other  government  em 
ployees.  He  preached  in  church,  in  the 
streets,  and  so  to  say  from  the  house  tops, 
that  the  Repartimientos  must  be  abolished 
and  all  the  Indians  set  free.  Thus,  while 
he  more  and  more  became  the  idol  of  the 
surviving  natives  of  Hispaniola,  he  at 
tracted  daily  more  and  more  the  shafts 
poisoned  by  hatred  and  a  desire  of  revenge, 
which  the  Spanish  settlers  aimed  at  him. 
His  life  was  no  longer  safe,  (so,  at  least, 
he  thought,)  in  his  own  house,  and  on  the 
warning  and  at  the  invitation  of  the  Domi 
nican  Fathers,  lie  went  to  reside  in  their 
convent.  Meanwhile  Zuazo,  the  judge  de 
residentia,  had  also  arrived  in  Hispaniola. 
After  presenting  his  credentials,  he  soon 
began  to  perform  the  important  duties  of 
his  office.  The  Oidores,  or  judges  of  the 
court  of  appeal,  were  summoned  to  answrer 
to  charges  for  malfeasance  in  office.  Las 
Casas,  as  Protector  of  the  Indians,  had  a 
right  to  appear  as  prosecuting  attorney. 


Life  of  Barlolomd  de  Las  Gas  as..    161 

Calling  into  service  all  his  lawyer's  train 
ing  and  natural  talents  and  all  his  priestly 
zeal,  he  formulated  a  terrible  indictment, 
accusing  the  Oidores  of  murder  and  theft, 
in  so  far  as  they  had  allowed,  connived  at, 
and  participated  in  enlisting  and  arming 
expeditionary  forces  to  kidnap  the  Indians 
of  the  Bahama  Archipelago,  whereby 
thousands  of  homicides  had  been  com 
mitted,  and  numberless  men,  women,  and 
children  had  been  deprived  of  their  liberty. 

L,as  Casas  tells  us  himself  that  it  was  the 
general  opinion  among  those  who  were 
versed  in  criminal  prosecutions,  that  the 
judges  would  be  condemned  to  death,  as 
they  fully  deserved.  But  he  does  not  tell  us 
how  the  trial  ended,  remarking  however, 
that  the  judges  are  seldom  condemned  to 
death,  and  if  they  are,  the  sentences  are 
not  often  executed. 

The  zeal  of  the  Protector  of  the  Indians 
in  discharging  the  duties  of  his  office,  dis 
turbed  the  equanimity  of  the  three  monks, 
because  the  prosecution  of  the  judges  em 
phasized  their  obligation  to  declare  the  In 
dians  free.  To  shift  responsibility,  while 
disregarding  the  counsels  of  their  official 
advisor,  the  three  commissioners  thought 
proper  to  ask  the  opinions  of  the  judges,  of 
the  Franciscan  and  Dominican  Fathers,  as 
11 


1 62    Life  ofBariolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

to  the  advisability  of  abolishing  the  system 
of  Repartimientos,  and  of  carrying  out  the 
first  set  of  instructions  they  had  brought 
from  Spain.  They  knew  in  advance  what 
the  answer  of  the  judges  and  of  the  Fran 
ciscans  would  be.  But  the  Dominicans 
stood,  as  usual,  uncompromisingly  for  the 
liberty  of  the  Indians  in  a  written  thesis, 
which  they  presented  to  the  commissioners 
signed  by  all  the  jurists  and  theologians  of 
their  community.  The  commissioners  gave 
it  slight  consideration. 

They  had  now  resided  in  Hispaniola 
six  months,  and  their  inactivity  had  con 
vinced  Las  Casas  that  they  would  accom 
plish  nothing  of  importance  in  behalf  of 
the  Indians.  But  just  then  the  following 
episode  came  to  his  knowledge  and  left  no 
doubt  in  his  mind  as  to  the  course  to  be 
pursued. 

Some  of  the  commissioners'  relatives  had 
come  from  Spain  and  had  been  sent  by 
them  to  Cuba,  with  letters  to  Velasquez, 
asking  him  to  take  them  under  his  patron 
age,  which,  under  the  circumstances,  meant 
to  give  them  the  best  Repartimiento  of  In 
dians  to  be  found. 

4  *  They  dared  not  keep  them  in  Hispani 
ola,"  Las  Casas  tell  us,  "because  the  Cler- 
igo  was  there,  who,  they  knew  it,  would 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    163 

publicly  denounce  the  crime,  if  the  relatives 
of  those,  who  had  been  sent  to  free  the  In 
dians,  would  be  allowed  and  helped  to  en 
rich  themselves  with  their  labor. ' ' 

The  friends  of  the  latter  and  of  their  Pro 
tector,  namely  the  Dominicans  and  judge 
Zuazo  were  consulted  and  all  agreed  that 
the  Clerigo  should  return  to  Spain  and  re 
port  to  Ximenez  the  state  of  affairs.  Zuazo 
was  selected  to  notify  the  commissioners 
that  their  official  advisor  was  about  to  sail 
for  Kurope. 

" Don't  let  him  go,"  said  they  on  hear 
ing  the  news  ;  "he  is  a  torch,  that  will  set 
every  thing  on  fire." 

"But  Fathers,"  answered  Zuazo,  "who 
will  dare  stop  him?  He  is  a  clergyman, 
and  moreover  has  in  his  possession  a  royal 
decree  authorizing  him  to  go  and  inform 
the  Kings,  whenever  he  sees  fit,  as  this  is 
one  of  the  duties  of  his  office." 

The  following  day  the  Clerigo  himself 
went  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  commissioners. 

"What  is  this,  that  we  hear  about  your 
going  to  Castile?"  remarked  one  of  them. 
Las  Casas  cooly  answered  :  "Yes,  I  would 
like  to  go  and  attend  to  some  business  per 
taining  to  my  office."  The  subject  of  con 
versation  was  then  changed. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Las  Casas'  Second  Trip  to  Spain  in  behalf  of 
the  Indians. 

with  testimonials  from  the  Domi 
nicans  and  from  the  French  Franciscans 
as  to  his  zeal,  efforts  and  work  in  behalf  of 
the  Indians,  Las  Casas  sailed  some  time  in 
May,  and  fifty  days  after  stood  by  the  bed 
side  of  the  great  Cardinal  Ximenez,  who 
was  already  ill  of  the  sickness  that  proved 
his  last.  ,  The  dying  statesman  gently  com 
plained  with  the  Protector  of  the  Indians 
for  not  having  written  to  inform  him  how 
American  affairs  were  progressing.  From 
which  the  Clerigo  learned,  for  the  first 
time,  that  his  letters  from  the  Indies,  which 
he  had  mailed  regularly  on  every  returning 
ship,  had  been  intercepted,  while  those  of 
the  three  commissioners,  in  which  com 
plaints  and  accusations  were  lodged  against 
him,  had  reached  their  destination.  He 
did  not  succeed,  however,  in  locating  the 
guilty  parties. 

The  monks  of  St.  Jerome  in  Hispaniola 
lost  no  time  in  deputizing  one  of  them 
selves  to  go  to  Spain  to  represent  and  de- 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    165 

fend  them  at  court.  The  choice  fell  on 
Bernardino  de  Manzanedo.  But  Ximenez 
died  a  few  days  after,  without  seeing  his 
efforts  in.  behalf  of  the  American  Indians 
bear  any  fruit. 

Charles  V.  was  expected  in  Spain  for 
some  time  past,  but  nobody  seemed  to  know 
just  when  he  would  arrive.  L,as  Casas  de 
cided  to  wait  in Valladolid  until  September, 
and  if  by  that  time  an  opportunity  was  not 
afforded  him  of  interviewing  the  young 
Monarch  in  Spain,  he  would  go  to  Flan 
ders  to  see  him  there.  Father  Reginaldo 
Montesino  was  a  brother  of  that  Antonio 
Montesino,  with  whom  we  are  already  ac 
quainted,  and  like  him  a  Dominican.  A 
learned  and  eloquent  preacher,  he  was  a 
man  of  great  influence,  who  offered,  with 
the  permission  of  his  superiors,  to  accom 
pany  the  Clerigo  and  to  give  him  whatever 
assistance  he  could,  during  the  journey  and 
while  in  the  Low  Countries.  The  two 
friends  were  not,  however,  long  together  in 
Valladolid, when  news  reached  the  city  that 
the  King  had  landed  on  Spanish  soil,  and 
that,  in  a  few  days,  he  would  arrive  in 
Valladolid  itself.  Meanwhile  they  were  not 
idle.  Las  Casas  and  Reginaldo  were  one 
day  in  conversation  with  an  exmember  of 
the  Bureau  of  Indian  affairs,  who  remarked 


1 66    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

to  the  two  clergymen  that,  in  his  opinion, 
the  American  Indian  was  too  low  in  the 
scale  of  humanity  to  be  taught  and  to  learn 
and  practice  the  Christian  religion.  Mon- 
tesino  promptly  informed  him  that  to  say 
the  like  was  heresy.  The  friar's  boldness 
irritated  the  royal  counselor,  and  a  dispute 
followed.  This  preteiited  incapacity  of  the 
Indians  to  learn  and  understand  the  Christ 
ian  religion  had  been  from  the  beginning 
a  powerful  weapon  in  the  hands  .of  their 
enemies  to  keep  them  in  bondage,  and  the 
two  clergymen  thought  that  it  ought  to  be 
blunted  if  it  was  not  in  their  power  to 
break  it.  Reginaldo  wrote  therefore  to 
Father  Hurtado,  prior  of  the  monastery  of 
St.  Stephen  in  Salamanca,  who  was  pro 
minent  in  his  Order,  not  only  as  a  profound 
theologian,  but  as  a  saintly  man,  and  in 
formed  him,  that  the  pernicious  error,  about 
the  American  Indians  not  being  able  to 
learn  and  understand  the  Christian  religion, 
was  held  by  some  of  the  courtiers,  and  re 
quested  him  to  call  together  the  theological 
faculty  of  that  University  to  discuss  and 
decide  the  question.  It  was  done,  and  the 
conclusions  arrived  at  were  shortly  after 
sent  to  Montesino  and  Las  Casas  properly 
signed  and  authenticated.  The  last  con 
clusion  recited  that  the  death  penalty  by 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    167 

fire  should  be  inflicted  on  those,  who  were 
imbued  with  that  error  and  pertinaciously 
defended  it,  as  was  done  in  the  case  of 
heretics.  The  enslavement  of  men  except 
of  criminals,  lunatics,  idiots,  and  the  like, 
is  undefensible  in  the  light  of  the  Gospel, 
unless  it  be  assumed  that  the  individuals 
thus  enslaved  are  not  really  human  beings, 
but  mere  brutes,  outwardly  resembling  men. 
To  appreciate  the  value  of  that  document 
in  the  hands  of  Las  Casas  to  protect  the  In 
dians  against  the  tyranny  of  those  who 
called  themselves  Christians,  we  must  call 
to  mind  the  fact  that  a  decision  on  a  point 
of  faith  or  morals  by  a  university  such  as 
that  of  Salamanca  at  the  beginning  of  the 
XVI.  century  had  almost  the  same  effect 
and  bearing  that  a  decree  from  a  Roman 
Congregation  has  at  the  present  time.  It 
usually  settled  the  point  in  dispute.  Hence 
forth  the  Protector  of  the  Indians  will  be 
able  to  fling  that  decision  in  the  face  of  his 
adversaries  and  say:  The  American  Indians 
are  men  endowed  with  reason,  children, 
like  the  white  men,  of  the  same  Father, 
who  is  in  heaven,  and  capable  of  being 
christianized  ;  they  were  free,  and  no  Chris 
tian  has  the  right  to  enslave  them. 

"These  principles  are  self-evident  to  us 
of  the  XIX.  century,  but  they  were  not  so 


1 68    Life  oj  Bartolom£  de  Las  Gas  as. 

clear  to  our  ancestors  of  the  XV.  and  XVI. 
centuries."  So  say  the  apologists  of  the 
early  American  settlers.  Their  argument, 
it  seems  to  me,  has  little  force.  The  gospel 
was  at  least  as  well  understood  then  as  it  is 
now,  and  the  works  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas 
were  widely  taught  and  better  known  to 
the  clergy  of  1517  than  they  are  to  the 
clergy  of  1900.  Christian  faith  is,  if  you 
wish,  the  foundation  of  Christian  morals; 
without  the  former  the  latter  cannot  exist. 
But  Christian  faith  is  sometimes  found  with 
the  deepest  moral  depravity  in  the  same  in 
dividual.  This  is  Catholic  doctrine  and  a 
lesson  that  history  has  taught  for  the  past 
eighteen  hundred  years. 

Charles  V.  brought  to  Spain  his  own 
state  and  court  officers.  There  was  a  grand 
chancellor  or  head  of  the  royal  imperial 
cabinet,  who  filled  the  office  of  the  modern 
English  premier,  to  whom  he  entrusted  the 
government  of  Spain  and  its  American 
dependencies.  The  high  chancellor  was 
one  Mosior  or  L,ord  de  Laxao  and  the 
secretary  of  state  one  Mosior  de  Xevier. 
Francisco  de  lyos  Cobos,  who  had  been  an 
employee  of  secretary  Conchillo's  office,  on 
the  death  of  king  Ferdinand,  had  gone  to 
Flanders  to  solicit  a  reappointment  and 
succeeded  in  gaining  the  confidence  of  de 


Life  oj  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    169 

Xevres.  As  soon  as  his  former  master 
Conchillo  was  rudely  set  aside,  lie  was  him 
self  appointed  colonial  secretary  of  the  In 
dies.  These  are  the  men  with  whom  Las 
Casas  will  have  henceforth  to  deal.  Two 
of  them  were  foreigners  and  the  last  named 
a  Spaniard.  Through  Adrian,  the  hereto 
fore  ambassador,  he  found  easy  access  to 
the  Flemish  high  chancellor.  As  if  to  give 
an  account  of  himself,  he  produced,  on  the 
occasion  of  his  first  visit,  the  decree  ap 
pointing  him  procurator  and  protector  of 
the  Indians,  together  with  the  testimonials 
brought  from  America  from  the  Dominicans 
and  the  French  Franciscan  Fathers.  Not 
knowing  Spanish,  the  chancellor  first 
perused  the  letter  of  the  Franciscans,  who 
had  written  in  Latin.  As  chance  would 
have  it,  among  the  signatures  he  noticed 
that  of  a  former  acquaintance  of  his.  He 
would  have  probably  given  little  attention 
to  a  paper  from  Spaniards  recommending 
another  Spaniard,  but  the  testimonial  from 
his  old  friend  predisposed  him  to  listen 
favorably  to  Las  Casas.  It  did  not  take  the 
old  Dutch  chancellor  long  to  discover  the 
metal  that  the  Clerigo  was  made  of,  and  as 
he  needed  to  become  familiar  with  American 
affairs,  finding  this  frank  outspoken  Amer 
ican  priest  thoroughly  conversant  with 


170    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

them,  lie  choose  him  in  the  course  of  time 
as  his  confidential  informant.  Las  Casas 
could  go  and  see  him  and  talk  to  the  old 
gentleman  whenever  he  wished.  There 
was  no  need  of  making  his  obeisance  to  de 
Xevres,  de  Laxao  or  Francisco  de  Los 
Cobos.  He  and  the  old  chancellor  under 
stood  each  other  well,  although  their  con 
versation  had  to  be  carried  on  in  Latin. 

Meanwhile  secretary  Conchillo  and  Fon- 
seca  left  not  a  stone  unturned  to  have  them 
selves  reappointed  members  of  the  bureau 
for  Indian  affairs.  But  they  did  not  suc 
ceed,  and  Las  Casas  knew  why.  They 
went  so  far  as  to  attempt  to  exercise  their 
former  office  without  having  been  reap 
pointed  by  the  new  administration.  One 
day  Conchillo  provided  himself  with  a 
bundle  of  papers  concerning  America  and 
presenting  himself  to  the  chancellor,  re 
quested  him  to  affix  his  signature  to  them. 
"Get  you  out  of  here,"  thundered  the 
Dutchman  in  angry  tones,  uit  was  you  and 
the  bishop,  who  ruined  the  Indies. n  Con 
chillo  understood  that  his  services  were  no" 
longer  required  at  court,  and  withdrew  to 
his  estate  at  Toledo.  But  Fonseca,  whose 
ecclesiastical  dignity  yielded  only  to  that 
of  the  archbishops  of  Toledo  and  Seville, 
fared  better,  and  was  later  readmitted  as  a 


Life  ofBartolom&  dc  Las  Casas.    171 

member  of  tlie  royal  council  or  bureau  of 
Indian  affairs.  Las  Casas'  favor  with  the 
grand  chancellor  grew  apace  with  the 
downfall  of  his  enemies.  Petitions,  denun 
ciations  of  each  others,  memorials,  com 
plaints  against  Las  Casas  himself,  etc.  on 
the  part  of  the  American  settlers  flooded 
the  offices  of  the  high  chancellor.  They 
were  invariably  referred  to  the  Clerigo, 
who  translated  them  into  Latin,  adding 
notes  of  his  own,  and  giving  his  views  as 
to  what  should  be  done.  These  services, 
given  gratuitously,  were  highly  appreciated; 
as  in  a  comparatively  short  time  they  en 
abled  the  foreign  premier  to  familiarize 
himself  with  the  administration  of  the  far 
away  transatlantic  colonies.  The  chan 
cellor  thought  it  advisable  to  speak  to  the 
young  monarch  about  the  American  priest 
and  lawyer,  who,  by  his  experience,  up 
rightness,  disinterestedness  and  well  poised 
judgment  greatly  assisted  him  in  dispatch 
ing  the  business  of  the  American  posses 
sions.  Thereupon  Charles  V.  appointed 
the  chancellor  and  Las  Casas  a  committee 
to  draft  a  body  of  laws  intended  to  do  even- 
handed  justice  to  the  colonists  and  to  the 
Indians  alike.  That  same  day  the  Clerigo 
was  a  gitest,  with  many  others,  of  the  chan 
cellor,  who,  as  they  were  going  in  to  din- 


1 72   Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

ner,  .took  the  priest  aside  and  said  to  him: 
uRex  dominus  noster  jubet  quod  vos  et  ego 
ponamus  remedia  Indiis' '  (it  is  the  command 
of  His  Majesty  the  king  that  you  and  I  re 
form  the  Indies.)  "Faciatis  vestra  memo 
rabilia."  (Write  your  memorial.)  Las 
Casas'  answer  was:  u Paratissimus  sum  et 
libentissime  faciam  quae  rex  et  vestra  domi- 
natio  jubent."  (I  am  ready  and  will 
willingly  do  what  the  king  and  your  excel 
lency  require  of  me. ) 

After  relating  this  episode,  the  Protector 
of  the  Indians  remarks  pathetically:  "This 
was  the  second  time  that  God  seemed  to 
place  the  salvation  and  the  liberty  of  the 
Indians  in  the  hands  of  the  Clerigo.  But 
these  bright  prospects  would  vanish  of  a 
sudden  one  way  or  another,  as  will  be  seen 
later.  If  this  happened  on  account  of  the 
sins  of  the  Spaniards  or  of  the  Indians,  or 
of  both,  only  judgement  day  shall  reveal." 

In  1502,  while  sailing  by  Cuba,  Christo 
pher  Columbus  had  remarked,  pointing  in 
•the  direction  of  Mexico,  and  within  hearing 
of  one  of  his  ship's  boys,  that  he  expected 
to  discover  more  extensive  territory  there, 
than  any  yet  discovered.  That  ship's  boy 
in  1517  had  grown  to  be  the  pilot  of  a  .ship, 
chartered  by  one  Hernandez,  for  no  better 
purpose  than  kidnapping  Indians  wherever 


Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    173 

lie  and  his  associates  could  find  them.  The 
pilot  chanced  to  speak  to  the  captain  of  the 
remark  made  by  Columbus  fifteen  years 
before.  Thereupon  Hernandez  changed 
his  plans,  and  having  obtained  a  promise 
from  Diego  Velasquez,  (under  whose 
hospices  the  expedition  was  made  ready,) 
that,  should  he  discover  new  lands,  he 
would  be  made  lieutenant  governor  there 
of,  loaded  on  his  ship  cattle,  horses,  hogs, 
etc.,  and  every  thing  necessary  to  a  new 
settlement,  taking  it  as  a  foregone  con 
clusion  that  Columbus'  prophesy  would  be 
fulfilled.  They  sailed  west,  and  first  dis 
covered  the  island  of  Cazumel,  and  then 
the  mainland  of  Yucatan,  landing  at  Cape 
Catoche.  Thence  they  discovered  the  In 
dian  town  of  Campeche,  where  they  were 
treated  hospitably  by  the  natives.  Next 
they  visited  Champoton,  were  a  like  recep 
tion  was  given  them  at  first.  But  seeing 
that  their  bearded  visitors  tarried  in  their 
country  longer  than  it  suited  them,  the  In 
dians  invited  them  to  leave.  A  battle  en 
sued,  the  outcome  of  which  was  that, 
though  many  of  the  natives  were  killed, 
the  Spaniards  were  beaten  back  to  their 
ships,  carrying  with  them  many  wounded, 
and  leaving  behind  quite  a  number  of  dead. 
The  arrows  of  the  Yucatanese  had  inflicted 


i/T4    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

011  Hernandez  himself,  (who  was  known  in 
America  as  one  of  the  best  Indian  fighters) 
not  less  than  thirty  wounds,  of  which  he 
died  some  months  after.  When  the  dis 
covery  of  a  country  was  made,  rich  in  gold, 
with  large  towns  having  regular  streets, 
public  squares,  gardens,  statues,  monu 
ments  and  houses  made  of  stone,  brick  and 
mortar,  the  inhabitants  whereof  were  fully 
clothed  with  well  woven  cotton  garments, 
the  like  of  which  had  not  yet  been  seen  in 
America,  Velasquez  broke  faith  with  Her 
nandez,  and  instead  of  appointing  him 
lieutenant  governor  of  the  country,  hastened 
to  raise  a  larger  and  a  better  equipped  ex 
pedition  to  take  possession  of  Yucatan,  and 
appointed,  as  its  captain  general,  his  old 
favorite  countryman,  Juan  de  Grijalva. 
Hernandez,  whose  wounds  confined  him  to 
his  bed,  wrote  to  L,as  Casas,  whom  he  con 
sidered  his  friend,  bitterly  complaining  of 
Velasquez,  and  asking  him  to  iise  his  good 
offices  with  the  king,  to  have  his  wrongs 
redressed.  The  Clerigo  received  the  letter 
in  Zaragoza,  but  did  not  tell  us  what  steps 
he  took,  if  any  in  behalf  of  his  friend,  the 
discoverer  of  Mexico.  Hernandez  died 
without  revisiting  his  native  country. 

Meanwhile  Juan  de  Grijalva,  with  two 
hundred  followers,  had  explored  the  coast 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    175 

of  Mexico,  from  Cape  Catoche  as  far  north, 
as  Vera  Cruz,  and  had  returned  to  Santiago 
de  Cuba,  loaded  with  gold,  to  report  to 
Diego  Velasquez.  The  news  of  the  dis 
covery  of  Mexico  was  already  known  in 
Spain;  but  nobody  attached  much  impor 
tance  to  it,  as  it  was  not  even  known  if  it 
was  an  island  or  terra  firma.  At  this  time 
delegation  after  delegation  of  Americo- 
Spaiiish  settlers  swarmed  around  the  royal 
palaces,  some  to  ask  for  new  grants  of  In 
dians  or  lands,  others  to  have  themselves 
confirmed  in  the  offices,  on  which  they  had 
fattened  under  the  old  administration;  and 
everybody  sharpened  his  wits  to  devise  new 
plans  and  schemes,  whereby  to  ingratiate 
himself  to  the  Flemish  noblemen,  who 
composed  the  court.  One  of  these  schemes 
was  the  following.  It  was  suggested  to 
one  of  the  Dutch  magnates,  who  answered 
to  the  title  of  admiral  of  Flanders,  that  he 
might  obtain  from  his  majesty,  as  a  grant 
or  gift,  the  newly  discovered  regions, 
which,  in  fact,  comprised  nothing  less  than 
the  present  territory  of  the  Republic  of 
Mexico,  which  had  then  perhaps  as  many 
inhabitants  as  it  has  now.  To  properly 
govern  Yucatan  and  Mexico,  the  admiral 
of  Flanders  was  told,  he  should  also  have 
himself  appointed  governor  of  Cuba,  which, 


176  Life  of  Barlolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

owing  to  its  geographical  position,  would 
answer  very  well  as  a  base  of  supply  in  the 
conquest  and  settlement  of  the  new  country. 
The  wealthy  Flemish  gentleman,  whose 
idea  of  America  went  no  farther  than  to 
know  that  it  was  a  country  far  away  from 
Europe,  planted  in  the  midst  of  the  limit 
less  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  that  it  was  in 
habited  by  a  race  of  men  different  from  the 
Europeans  and  not  nearly  as  white  as  the 
Dutch,  thought  it  worth  while  to  look  into 
the  business,  attracted  perhaps  more  by  the 
novelty  of  the  thing,  than  by  anything 
else.  As  L,as  Casas  was  then  in  great  favor 
with  the  great  chancellor,  and  therefore  a 
very  important  personage,  who  knew  more 
about  the  Indies  than  any  one  else,  the  ad 
miral  thought  it  advisable  to  invite  him  to 
a  dinner,  to  which  a  large  number  of  his 
Flemish  friends  had  also  been  invited.  The 
Clerigo  was  treated  with  great  considera 
tion,  was  toasted,  and  in  a  long  after 
dinner  talk  was  made  to  give  the  Flemish 
gentlemen  more  knowledge  about  the  trans 
atlantic  Spanish  possessions,  than  they 
ever  had  before.  The  admiral  of  Flanders, 
thought  that  Mexico,  with  the  governor 
ship  of  Cuba  thrown  in  for  good  meas 
ure,  was  worth  having.  He  asked  for 
it,  and  young  Charles  V.  granted  it  with 
the  same  ease,  as  if  the  use  of  a  common 


Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    177 

for  tlie  pasturing  of  tlie  nobleman's  cattle 
had  been  asked.  The  admiral  then  wrote 
to  Flanders,  and  in  a  few  months  there  ar 
rived  in  the  port  of  San  Linear  five  ship 
loads  of  Dutch  laborers,  who  were  ready  to 
go  to  Mexico  and  settle  it.  That  republic 
would  perhaps  be  now  made  up  of  Flemish- 
Americans  instead  of  Spanish- Americans, 
had  not  Las  Casas  interfered.  But  he  did. 
He  thought  it  best  to  let  his  friend  Diego 
Columbus  know  what  was  being  done, 
who,  in  virtue  of  the  vice-royalty  granted 
his  father  on  all  the  lands  discovered  by 
him,  was  ex  ofncio  governor  of  Cuba. 
Diego  lodged  a  complaint  with  the  king, 
and  the  justice  of  his  claim  having  been 
recognized,  the  grant  of  Mexico  to  the  ad 
miral  of  Flanders  was  declared  null  and 
void;  and  the  Dutch  laborers,  those  at  least 
whom  the  hot  climate  of  southern  Spain 
had  not  killed,  were  sent  back  to  the  Low 
Countries. 

About  this  time,  that  is  towards  the  end 
of  1517  or  the  beginning  of  1518,  Las 
Casas  made  the  acquaintance  of  Magellan, 
the  first  circumnavigator  of  the  world.  He 
had  come  from  Portugal,  like  Columbus 
surreptitiously,  or  as  a  fugitive  from  jus 
tice,  and  like  Columbus  he  claimed  to 
know  a  way  of  going  to  the  land  of  spices 
12 


178    Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

by  a  route  different  from  the  one  followed 
by  trie  Portuguese,  through  a  strait 
known  only  to  himself.  He  exhibited  in 
the  office  of  the  grand  chancellor,  and  in 
the  presence  of  the  Clerigo  one  of  those 
geographical  globes,  which,  since  the  dis 
covery  of  America,  and  the  turning  of  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  by  the  Portuguese,  and  their 
landing  in  Brazil,  were  no  longer  uncom 
mon.  On  it  the  continent  of  America  was 
carefully  delineated,  as  far  as  it  was  then 
known,  but  the  strait,  to  which  he  gave 
his  name,  was  carefully  left  out.  How 
ever,  he  pointed  out  to  the  chancellor  and 
to  the  bystanders  where  it  should  be. 

The  first  American  priest  was  no  mean 
mariner  himself.  On  the  contrary  he  was 
one  of  the  few  then  living  in  Spain  or  else 
where,  who  could  sail  from  a  European 
port  and  steer  a  ship  by  the  shortest  route 
to  Florida,  Cuba,  Panama,  Brazil,  I^a 
Plata,  etc.,  and  withall  he  was  not  bashful 
about  asking  questions. 

."What  route  do  you  intend  to  follow, 
Mr.  Magellan?"  asked  the  Clerigo. 

"I'll  first  make  Cape  Santa  Maria  (L,a 
Plata  River)  and  coast  thence  southward 
until  I  find  the  strait,"  replied  the  Por 
tuguese. 

Casas:  "And  if  you  don't  find  it?" 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    179 

Magellan:  "I'll  get  there,  if  I  have  to 
follow  the  Portuguese  route." 

Magellan  was  accompanied  by  one  Luis 
Faleiro,  who  pretended  to  be  a  great  as 
tronomer.  But  it  was  whispered  later  among 
the  Portuguese,  that  he  had  entered  into 
partnership  with  a  devil,  whence  he  got  his 
geographical  secret,  and  that  of  astronomy 
he  knew  nothing.  The  letters  of  Hernan 
dez,  his  relations  with  the  admiral  of  Flan 
ders  and  with  Magellan  were  incidental 
episodes  in  the  life  of  Las  Casas,  while  he 
was  at  court.  His  all  absorbing  business 
was  to  work  and  to  plead  for  his  Indians. 
The  first  American  priest  was  at  all  time  a 
pious  man  and  his  rule  of  life  was  always 
to  seek  divine  assistance  before  engaging 
in  any  important  undertaking.  All  his 
writings  show  him  to  have  been  also  a  man 
of  great  and  abiding  faith.  Before  be 
ginning  to  write  the  body  of  laws  intended 
to  reform  the  Indies  (this  is  his  own  ex 
pression)  at  the  invitation  of  Charles  V. 
and  his  high  chancellor,  we  find  the  first 
American  priest  going  from  one  to  another 
monastery  and  to  the  convents  and  to  all 
the  pious  people  of  his  acquaintance,  to  beg 
for  prayers,  that  God  might  enlighten  him 
to  do  what  was  best  for  the  salvation, 
material  and  spiritual,  of  his  many  millions 


i So    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

of  children  in  America.  His  present  task 
however  was  not  a  very  difficult  one.  He 
did  little  more  than  copy  the  memorial  he 
had  written  for  cardinal  Ximenez,  to  put 
which  into  execution  the  three  monks  of 
St.  Jerome  had  been  sent  to  Hispaniola. 
Of  course  the  objectionable  ministerial  in 
terpolations  were  left  out.  Las  Casas  how 
ever  made  two  new  and  very  important 
recommendations,  which  have  become  very 
famous  in  the  annals  of  the  early  history  of 
America. 

The  first  recited  that,  inasmuch  as  the 
islands  of  Hispaniola,  Cuba,  Porto  Rico 
and  Jamaica  had  been  wellnigh  depopulated 
of  their  aboriginal  inhabitants,  Spanish  im 
migrants,  drawn  from  the  agricultural 
classes,  should  be  imported  to  repeople 
them. 

The  second  recommendation  was  that, 
inasmuch  as  the  Spanish  settlers  were  to 
be  deprived  of  their  Repartimientos  of  In 
dians,  each  of  them  should  be  allowed  to 
import  from  Spain  a  dozen  negro  slaves,  to 
enable  them  to  continue  their  planting  and 
mining  operations. 

A  word  must  be  said  here  about  this  re 
commendation,  which  has  caused  so  much 
discussion  among  historians  and  sociologists 
during  the  last  and  the  present  century. 


Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    181 

We  shall  see  how  it  was  carried  out  and 
how  four  thousand  African  slaves  were  im 
ported  to  America.  The  question,  which 
has  been  much  debated,  is:  Was  L,as  Casas 
responsible  for  the  introduction  of  Negro 
slavery  in  America? 

All  modern  historians  now  agree  that  he 
was  not.  There  were  African  slaves  in  the 
Indies  before  the  Protector  of  the  Indians 
ever  made  his  famous  recommendation  to 
Charles  V. 

i st.  L,as  Casas  himself  in  the  memorial, 
in  which  he  recommends  the  importation 
of  Negroes  to  replace  the  American  Indi 
ans,  mentions  the  fact  that:  "On  certain 
farms  in  Hispaniola,  Cuba,  etc.,  belonging 
to  the  kings,  there  were  some  Negro  slaves, 
although  few,"  and  he  recommends  that 
they  be  turned  over  to  the  immigrant  Span 
ish  laborers,  who  were  to  be  imported  in 
those  islands. 

2d.  In  the  will  of  Diego  Columbus,  the 
brother  of  Christopher,  (dated  the  22d  of 
February  1515)  we  find  a  legacy  of  one 
hundred  dollars  to  a  Negro  boy,  the  son 
of  a  negress  slave  named  Barbola. 

3rd.  Las  Casas  speaking  of  John  Bono 
(good)  mentioned  above,  jocularly  remarks 
that  his  name  Bono  fitted  him  about  as  well 
as  that  of  John  Blanco  (white)  fitted  a  cer- 


182    Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

tain  runaway  Negro,  who  had  become  a 
famous  pirate  and  kidnapper  of  Indians, 
previous  to  the  year  1516. 

4th.  In  a  letter  of  king  Ferdinand  to 
Ksteban  Pasamonte,  dated  the  4th  of  April 
1514,  it  is  said:  "Slave  Negro  women  will 
be  provided  for  (Hispaniola)  to  be  given  in 
marriage  to  the  Negro  men,  who  are  there 
already,  in  order  to  lessen  the  danger  of  a 
rebellion  on  their  part."  If  there  existed 
already  some  fear  of  a  Negro  uprising,  they 
must  have  been  comparatively  numerous. 

5th.  In  1510  Diego  de  Nicuesa  carried 
to  Hispaniola  for  the  Spanish  government 
thirty  six  Negro  slaves. 

6th.  In  the  year  1505  the  same  govern 
ment  sent  to  Nicolas  Ovando  seventeen 
Negro  slaves  to  be  employed  in  a  copper 
mine. 

yth.  As  early  as  1501  permission  was 
given  to  the  same  Nicolas  Ovando  to  bring 
from  Spain  to  Hispaniola  Negro  slaves. 

But  was  not  Las  Casas  illogical  in  com 
batting  unrelentlessly  the  enslavement  of 
the  American  Indians  while  recommending 
and  encouraging  African  slavery? 

Not  necessarily.  Slavery  existed  in  Spain 
at  the  end  of  the  XV.  and  at  the  beginning 
of  the  XVI.  centuries,  and  it  was  recognized 
by  the  laws  of  the  land.  It  was  not  in 


Life  ofBartolom£  de  Las  Casas.    183 

Casas'  power,  neither  was  it  Ms  duty,  as 
Protector  of  the  Indians,  to.  endeavor  to 
have  it  abolished.  The  slavery  of  the 
weak-bodied  and  indolent  American  natives 
of  the  West  Indies  was  fatal  to  them,  and 
their  enforced  labor  had  already  reduced 
their  numbers  at  least  seventy-five  per  cent. 
On  the  contrary  African  slaves  prospered 
and  multiplied  in  the  sunny  climes  of 
Hispaniola,  Cuba,  Porto  Rico  and  Jamaica, 
where,  as  Las  Casas  facetiously  remarks  in 
his  Historia  de  las  Indias,  ua  Negro  was 
seldom  known  to  die,  unless  he  was  hung." 
Of  two  evils  he  choose  the  least.  If  slavery 
must  exist  in  America,  L,as  Casas  thought, 
let  it  be  of  the  Negroes,  who  were  already 
slaves,  and  could  survive  it,  instead  of  the 
Indians,  who  were  deprived  unjustly  of 
their  liberty,  and  succumbed  to  it.  The 
severest  moralist  of  today  could  scarcely 
condemn  this  mode  of  reasoning.  But  the 
Protector  of  the  Indians  would  not  accept 
the  apology  for  himself,  when,  in  maturer 
years,  and  after  having  studied,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Dominicans,  the  subject  of 
slavery  more  thoroughly,  he  acknowledged 
to  posterity  his  error  in  the  following 
passage  of  his  Historia  de  las  Indias. 
(Book  3rd,  chapter  101.)  "This  advise 
that  permission  be  given  to  import  Negro 


184    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

slaves  was  first  given  by  the  Clerigo  Casas, 
who  did  not  then  know  that  the  Portuguese 
capture  and  enslave  them  unjustly.  After 
he  became  aware  of  the  fact,  he  would  not 
give  that  advice  for  the  whole  world;  and 
ever  since  he  has  believed  that  it  is  as  un 
just  to  enslave  Negroes,  as  it  is  to  enslave 
Indians,  and  for  the  same  reasons. "  And 
again,  in  the  I28th  chapter  of  the  same 
work,  he  renews  the  open  confession.  uOf 
that  advice  which  the  Clerigo  then  gave, 
he  repented  not  a  little,  and  accused  him 
self  of  thoughtlessness  in  later  years,  be 
cause  he  understood  then,  how  the  slavery 
of  Negroes  is  as  unjust  as  that  of  the  Indi 
ans.  He  understood  also  how  the  remedy 
proposed  of  importing  Negroes  to  free  the 
Indians  was  unjust ;  and  although  he  then 
supposed  the  former  to  have  been  justly  en 
slaved,  still  he  is  not  certain  that  his 
ignorance  and  his  good  intention  will  ex 
cuse  him  before  the  judgement  seat  of 
God." 

L,et  us  conclude.  If  L,as  Casas  erred,  he 
erred  with  some  of  the  foremost  theologians 
and  jurists  of  his  time,  as  Cardinal  Xime- 
nez  and  Cardinal  Adrian  (afterwards  Pope) 
who  signed  and  approved  his  first  recom 
mendation  for  the  importation  of  Negroes 
in  America.  If  he  erred,  he  erred  on  the 


Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    185 

side  of  humanity.  And  the  open  confes 
sion  of  his  error  in  maturer  years,  when 
deeper  studies  had  undeceived  him,  en 
deared  him  more  to  posterity,  I  think,  than 
if  he  had  not  erred  at  all. 

Leave  was  granted  by  Charles  V.  for  the 
importation  of  four  thousand  Negroes; 
granting  the  exclusive  right  to  the  traffic  to 
one  of  his  Dutch  courtiers,  who  sold  it  to 
Genoese  merchants.  These,  in  their  turn, 
bought  them  from  the  Portuguese,  and  sold 
them  to  the  Spanish  settlers  in  America  at 
exorbitant  profits.  Thus  Portugal,  Spain, 
Italy,  and  Flanders  co-operated  in  estab 
lishing  in  the  new  world  the  curse  of  Afri 
can  slavery,  and  the  commerce  in  human 
flesh.  Not  many  years  after,  England  and 
France  became  their  partners. 

The  court  had  not  yet  left  Valladolid  for 
Zaragoza,  when  it  was  whispered  around 
that  the  Archbishop  of  Burgos  and  his 
brother,  by  the  payment  to  the  king  or 
to  Monsieur  de  Xevres,  of  sixteen  thousand 
ducats,  had  been  reinstated  in  their  offices. 
Las  Casas  leaves  us  in  doubt  if  this  was 
true  or  not,  and  suggests  that  perhaps  it 
was  owing  to  the  prominence  of  their 
family,  and  to  their  having  held  those  po 
sitions  so  long  under  the  former  administra 
tion,  that  it  was  thought  best  to  reinstate 


1 86    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

them.  Hereafter  the  Protector  of  the  In 
dians  will  have  to  face  again  the  greedy 
and  crafty  Juan  Fonseca. 

On  their  way  fromValladolidtoZaragoza 
the  king  and  his  court  made  a  halt  in 
Aranda  de  Duero,  and,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
council  of  state,  the  memorial  of  L,as  Casas 
was  taken  up  for  consideration.  Fonseca 
opposed  the  sending  of  laborers  to  the  West 
Indies  on  the  plea  that  none  could  be 
gotten  to  go.  "Twenty  years  ago  I  tried 
to  send  laborers  to  Hispaniola,  and  not 
twenty  were  found  willing  to  go,"  said  the 
archbishop.  Thereupon  the  Clerigo 
pledged  himself  to  gather  three  thousands 
of  them,  and  to  accompany  them  to  Ame 
rica,  provided  that  the  inducements  he 
himself  had  suggested  should  be  offered  to 
the  emigrants,  were  carried  out  in  good 
faith.  He  argued  with  Fonseca  that  con 
ditions  had  changed.  Between  1495  and 
1502  the  greatest  punishment,  that  could 
be  inflicted  on  a  Spaniard,  was  to  exile 
him  to  America;  whereas  ever  since  1502 
every  Spanish  settler  in  America  con 
sidered  it  a  great  punishment  to  be  ex 
pelled  from  the  colonies  and  forced  to  re 
turn  to  Spain. 

The  principal  inducements  to  be  offered 
to  the  laborers  were  the  following: 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    187 

1.  Each  emigrant  shall  have  his  travel 
ling  expenses  paid  at  the  rate  of  half  a  Heal 
(six  cents  and  a  half)  per  day  from  his 
home  to  Seville. 

2.  While  in  Seville  he  shall  be  lodged  in 
the  Casa  de  Conlratacion  ( offices  and  ware 
houses    of    the   government's   commercial 
agencies)  free  of  charge,  and  he  shall  be 
given  from  eleven  to  thirteen  Maravedies  a 
day  (between  three  and  four  cents  a  day  of 
our  American  money)  for  his  board. 

3.  Free  passage  to  America. 

4.  Board  and  lodging,  during  one  year, 
while  employed  in  making  his  first  crop. 

5.  After  the  first  year,  should  the  immi 
grant  need  further  assistance  to  establish 
himself,  it  shall  be  given  to  him  in  the 
shape  of  a  loan,  to  be  repaid  into  the  royal 
treasury  at  a  time  to  be  agreed  upon. 

6.  The  farms  or  plantations,  which  were 
then    crown    property,    the   Negro   slaves 
thereon,  and  all  apurtenances  thereto,   ex 
cept  the  Indians,  who  were  to  be  set  free, 
were  to  be  divided  among  the  immigrants. 

7.  Agricultural  implements  were  to  be 
furnished  free  to  each  colonist. 

8.  As  much  land  shall  be  given  him,  as 
he  wished  to  cultivate. 

9.  If  sick,  he  should  be  cared  for  at  the 
expense  of  the  state,  the  king  paying  for 
medicines  and  doctor's  fees. 


i88    Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

10.  The  towns  or  parishes,  founded  by 
the  immigrants,  shall  exercise  the  jus 
patronatusover  all  ecclesiastical  benefices 
established  in  said  towns  or  parishes,  in 
the  sense,  that  appointments  to  vacancies 
were  to  be  made  by  concur  sus,  or  competitive 
examination,  to  which  however  only  the 
children  or  descendants  of  the  immigrants 
were  to  be  admitted. 

Negotiations  were  pending  in  Aranda, 
when  L/as  Casas  fell  sick,  and  they  were 
temporarily  suspended.  But  the  Clerigo 
even  while  confined  to  his  bed,  was  not 
idle.  One  day  there  came  to  visit  him,  in 
the  name  of  the  high  chancellor,  his  Flem 
ish  chaplain  with  a  bundle  of  papers  con 
taining  an  American  petition,  which,  if 
granted,  would  have  seriously  infringed  on 
the  rights  of  Diego  Columbus,  the  admiral, 
and,  de  jure  at  least,  viceroy  of  all  the  In 
dies.  The  sick  man  was  requested  to  state 
what  he  thought  of  it.  Las  Casas,  though 
just  then  harrassed  by  a  burning  fever,  got 
out  of  bed,  and  perusing  the  document, 
translated  it  from  Spanish  into  Latin,  giv 
ing  at  the  same  time  his  opinion  as  to  what 
should  be  done. 

Charles  V.  and  his  court  departed  from 
Aranda  for  Zaragoza  and  left  the  Clerigo 
behind.  L,as  Casas,  however,  was  not  long 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    189 

in  recovering  his  usually  robust  health, 
and,  as  the  Dutch  grandees'  gait  was  not 
fast,  he  overreached  them  before  the  end  of 
their  journey.  Writing  fourty-five  years 
after,  at  the  age  of  ninety,  in  the  quiet  cell 
of  a  Dominican  monastery  in  Valladolid, 
the  Protector  of  the  Indians  delighted  in 
detailing  to  posterity  how  great  an  attach 
ment  the  Flemish  grand  chancellor  had 
contracted  for  the  Clerigo.  "Many  times," 
says  he  (Historia  de  Las  Indias,  Book  III. 
Chapter  CIII.)  "did  the  grand  chancellor 
speak  of  the  Clerigo  during  the  journey, 
showing  how  deeply  he  felt  for  him  in  his 
sickness.  I  wonder,  he  would  say,  how 
Micer  Bartolome  is  doing?  And  when,  by 
the  grace  of  God,  the  Clerigo  succeeded  in 
rejoining  him  at  a  certain  stopping  place, 
great  was  the  joy  of  the  grand  chancellor  in 
seeing  him  well  again,  and  many  were  the 
complimentary  things  he  said  of  him.  As 
the  Clerigo  ascended  the  stairs,  leading  to 
his  apartments,  there  met  him  Don  Garcia 
de  Padilla  who  said:  'Quick,  quick,  Father, 
go  up,  and  see  the  grand  chancellor,  who 
is  in  tears  for  you,  fearing  that  you  might 
die.'  " 

The  court  had  scarcely  reached  Zaragoza 
when  Fonseca  fell  sick,  and  L,as  Casas' 
affairs  had  once  more  to  be  set  aside  for 


190    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

three  or  four  weeks.  While  patiently 
waiting,  he  received  a  letter  from  his 
friend,  Reginaldo  Montesino,  telling  him 
that  a  Franciscan  Friar,  by  the  name  of 
Francisco  de  San  Roman,  had  just  arrived 
from  the  American  colony  on  the  mainland 
of  South  America,  and  that  the  Father 
assured  him  (Montesino)  that  during  his 
stay  on  those  coasts  he  had  been  an  eye 
witness  to  the  slaughtering,  by  the  swords 
of  the  Spaniards,  of  more  than  forty 
thousand  Indians.  The  letter,  of  course, 
was  translated  into  Latin  for  the  benefit  of 
the  grand  chancellor.  It  dismayed  him, 
and  L,as  Casas  was  prevailed  upon  to  pay  a 
visit  to  his  lordship,  who  was  convalescent. 
Having  heard  the  letter  read  to  him,  Fon- 
seca  briefly  remarked :  "Give  my  regards 
to  his  Excellence,  and  say  to  him,  that,  as 
I  have  already  told  him,  it  will  be  well  that 
we  get  that  man  out  of  those  parts."  Fon- 
seca  referred  to  Pedrarias  de  Davila,  of 
whom  more  anon. 

It  was  also  during  Fonseca's  illness  at 
Zaragoza  that  L,as  Casas  one  day  met  the 
wife  of  ex-secretary  Conchillo  in  the  royal 
palace.  "Oh.  Father,"  she  exclaimed  on 
seeing  him,  "may  God  forgive  you  for  hav 
ing  taken  the  bread  out  of  my  children's 
mouths."  But  a  fitting  reply  to  the  insult 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.     191 

was  ready.  "May  tlieir  blood  be  upon  me 
and  upon  my  kinsmen."  The  answer  ad 
mitted  of  no  further  remarks.  The  silly 
woman,  who  dressed  in  silks,  decked  her 
self  with  jewels  and  lived  in  palaces,  vent 
ured  to  reproach  the  apostolic  man  for 
daring  to  protect  the  Indians,  on  whose 
blood  she,  her  children,  and  her  husband 
had  fattened. 

Fonseca  recovered,  and  the  grand  chan 
cellor  was  anxious  to  expedite  the  Clerigo's 
business.  But  God,  in  his  unscrutable  de 
signs,  thought  proper  once  more  to  cast  to 
the  winds  his  servant's  hopes,  who  after 
years  of  travel,  waiting,  pleading,  begging 
and  praying  for  his  beloved  Indians,  was 
then  about  to  touch  the  goal,  of  his  heart's 
aspirations.  One  Saturday  evening  the  first 
American  priest  was  dining  with  the  chan 
cellor,  when  word  was  brought  in,  that  the 
latter 's  nephew  had  died.  The  news  so 
shocked  the  aged  statesman,  as  to  compel 
him  to  retire  at  once  to  his  apartments. 
Next  morning  he  felt  worse,  and  by  the  fol 
lowing  Tuesday  was  a  corpse.  "With  the 
chancellor, "  wrote  L,as  Casas,  "seemed  to 
have  died  also  the  last  hope  for  the  Indians. ' ' 
The  bishop  (Fonseca)  shot  up  to  the  skies, 
and  the  Clerigo  went  down  to  the  abysses. 
The  archbishop  of  Burgos,  once  more  at 


192    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

the  head  of  the  bureau  of  Indian  affairs, 
surrounded  himself  with  men  directly  or  in 
directly  interested  in  maintaining  the  statu 
quo  in  America ;  and  L-as  Casas  found  the 
doors  leading  to  the  colonial  offices  shut 
against  him. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  new  adminis 
tration  was  to  recall  from  America  the  three 
monks  of  St.  Jerome.  It  will  not  be  found 
amiss  to  give  here  the  names  of  the  three 
recluses,  who,  for  two  or  three  years,  had 
the  destinies  of  this  western  continent  in 
their  keeping.  They  were  Alonzo,  who 
had  been  prior  of  a  monastery  in  Seville, 
Bernardino  de  Manzanedo,  and  IL/ui's  de 
Figueroa,  who  had  been  sent  to  watch  the 
movements  of  Las  Casas.  After  hanging 
around  the  royal  palaces  for  some  time,  he 
retired  to  his  monastery  as  soon  as  he  saw 
the  management  of  Indian  affairs  fall  once 
more  into  the  hands  of  Fonseca.  Having 
been  practically  appointees  of  L,as  Casas, 
they  had  nothing  to  hope  for  from  the  arch 
bishop  of  Burgos.  Indeed  the  good  religi 
ous,  heartily  sick  of  worldly  affairs,  wel 
comed  their  dismissal  from  office,  and 
quietly  retired  to  enjoy  again  the  peace  of 
their  monastic  cells. 

The  reader  remembers,  no  doubt,  how 
the  Dominicans  and  the  French  Franciscans 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    193 

had  established  convents  in  Cumana  and  in 
Chiribichi.  They  had  begun  their  evan 
gelical  work  in  earnest,  had  gained  the 
confidence  of  the  Indians  and  made  some 
converts.  But  the  outrages,  committed  by 
Spanish  marauders  during  their  kidnapping 
expedition  along  the  coast,  scandalized  the 
natives,  and  inclined  them  to  think  that  all 
white  men  were  bad,  cruel  and  ferocious. 
Thus  the  self-sacrificing  devotion  of  the 
Friars  was  made  barren  by  the  crimes  of 
their  countrymen.  I  have  detailed  some 
what  at  length  the  kidnapping  expedition 
of  Juan  Bono  to  the  Island  of  Trinidad. 
That  had  happened  in  1516.  About  a  year 
later  another  such  unqualifiable  act  of  bar 
barism  took  place  on  the  same  Island  on  a 
larger  scale.  The  slaves  thus  captured 
were  being  sold  at  auction  on  the  public 
square  of  San  Domingo  in  Hispaniola  in 
the  presence  of  the  two  monks  of  St. 
Jerome,  who  had  remained  in  America. 
Pedro  de  Cordova,  the  provincial  of  the 
Dominicans,  having  heard  of  it,  rushed  to 
the  house  of  the  commissioners,  and,  burn 
ing  with  indignation,  bitterly  reproached 
them  for  allowing  that  traffic  in  human 
flesh  of  the  helpless  Indians,  whose  only 
crime  was  overconfidence  and  overkindness 
to  the  white  men.  The  public  sale  was 
13 


194  Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

stopped,  but  tlie  slaves  were  taken  to  the 
government  offices  and  quietly  disposed  of 
to  this  or  that  miner  or  planter.  The 
Island  of  Trinidad,  and  the  pueblo,  whence 
hundreds  of  men  were  thus  stolen  and  sold 
into  captivity,  was  almost  in  sight  of  Chiri- 
bichi.  Pedro  de  Cordova,  who  saw  the 
works  of  his  brothers  nullified  by  the  crimes 
of  the  Spaniards,  connived  at  and  partici 
pated  in  by  the  highest  royal  offices  in  the 
colonies  and  tolerated  by  the  very  monks, 
who  had  been  sent  to  America  to  free  the 
Indians,  wrote  to  L,as  Casas  ;  and,  after  hav 
ing  described  the  kidnapping  and  murder 
ing  raid  and  the  sale  of  its  surviving  victims, 
said  :  "Sure  as  I  am  of  the  turn  affairs  are 
taking,  I  feel  constrained  to  speak  my  mind 
plainly,  regardless  of  consequences."  The 
letter  ended  by  asking  his  friend  the  Clerigo 
to  beg  the  king  to  issue  a  decree  forbidding 
the  Spaniards  from  settling,  or  landing 
ships  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Franciscan 
and  Dominican  Missions.  One  hundred 
leagues  of  coast  should  be  reserved  to  the 
Friars,  wherein  they  may,  undisturbed  by 
the  blithing  influence  of  the  white  man, 
attend  to  the  conversion  of  the  natives. 
If  one  hundred  leagues  could  not  be  ob 
tained,  lyas  Casas  was  to  ask  for  ten,  and  if 
these  could  not  be  gotten,  he  was  to  beg  for 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    195 

some  small  Islands  fifteen  or  twenty  leagues 
from  the  mainland,  whose  inhabitants  could 
be  formed  into  Christian  communities,  and 
where  other  Indians  might  find  a  shelter 
from  the  persecution  of  the  Spaniards.  The 
Protector  of  the  Indians,  who  had  greatly 
at  heart  the  preservation  of  those  Missions, 
and  who  had  even  seriously  thought  of  go 
ing  himself  to  Chiribichi  to  share  the  labors 
of  the  good  Dominicans  in  the  capacity  of  a 
secular  priest,  read  the  contents  of  Pedro  de 
Cordova's  letter  to  Fonseca  and  to  his  as 
sociate  ministers.  He  was  paid  for  his 
trouble  with  the  following  cynical  answer 
of  the  archbishop  :  "Well,  would  I  attend 
to  the  king's  interest,  if  I  should  turn  over 
to  the  Friars,  without  any  compensation 
whatever,  one  hundred  leagues  of  terri 
tory?"  "The  remark,"  wrote  Las  Casas, 
"was  little  worthy  of  a  successor  of  the 
Apostles,  who  laid  down  their  lives  to  do 
just  what  he  was  asked  to  do,  and  which 
he  was  strictly  bound  to  do  by  the  divine 
law  under  pain  of  eternal  damnation." 

The  death  of  the  high  chancellor,  and 
the  consequent  ascendency  of  Fonseca 
checked  the  influence  of  Las  Casas  for  a 
time,  but  did  not  destroy  it  altogether.  He 
had  yet  one  powerful  friend  at  court  in  the 
person  of  Adrian  the  ambassador,  to  whom 


196    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

Charles  V.,  on  liis  coming  to  Spain,  had 
brought  a  cardinal's  hat,  and  who  was  now 
known  as  the  Cardinal  of  Tortosa.  He  also 
formed  very  soon  the  acquaintance  of  an 
other  upright  and  truly  Christian  gentle 
man,  who,  knowing  something  of  the 
Clerigo's  business  at  court,  undertook  to 
help  him  and  to  cooperate  with  him  in  his 
mission  of  mercy.  He  was  Monsieur  de  la 
Mur,  the  nephew  of  Monsieur  de  lyaxao, 
the  high  chamberlain.  Both  uncle  and 
nephew,  having  learned  how  to  appreciate 
the  disinterested  zeal  and  the  open  character 
of  the  accomplished  American  priest, 
showed  him  much  favor,  which  served  him 
as  a  wedge  to  gain  that  of  the  other  officers 
of  the  Flemish  court.  Meanwhile  a  sleepy 
ecclesiastic  from  Flanders  had  been  ap 
pointed  to  fill  the  office  of  high  chancellor 
ad  interim,  and  it  was  with  him  that  Las 
Casas  had  to  deal  in  drafting  the  measures 
and  arranging  the  details  for  the  coloniza 
tion  of  the  West  Indies  with  Spanish 
laborers,  as  the  death  of  the  grand  chancel 
lor  had  left  in  suspense  the  treatment  of  all 
American  affairs.  The  relations  of  the  in- 
perturbable  Flemish  statesman  and  the  fiery 
Hispano-American  Clerigo  are  amusingly 
described  by  the  latter.  (Hist.  De  Las  Ind. 
Book  III.  Chapter  CHI). 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    197 

uThe  dean  (of  a  Northern  Chapter)  was 
so  sluggish  and  phlegmatic  that  sometimes 
he  dozed  in  open  meetings  of  the  council, 
and  even  when  the  Clerigo  undertook  to 
lecture  him  into  some  show  of  activity  and 
goaded  him  on,  he  did  not  get  vexed,  owing 
to  his  exceedingly  phlegmatic  tempera 
ment.  To  the  Clerigo,  wrho  gave  him  no 
rest  morning,  noon,  or  night,  he  remarked 
one  day  with  a  bland  smile  on  his  face : 
' '  Commendamus  in  domino,  domine  Bartolo- 
mee,  vestram  diligentiam."  The  Clerigo 
was  forced  to  laugh,  although  he  rather  felt 
like  weeping  at  this  way  of  attending  to 
affairs  of  state.  And,  forsooth,  when  a 
hot  headed  man,  like  the  Clerigo,  and  the 
quintessence  of  phlegm  like  the  dean  are 
yoked  together  to  do  business  jointly,  it  is 
exceedingly  trying  to  both  individuals.'' 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Las  Casas'  Efforts  to  Work  a  Scheme  of 
Colonization. 

JN  spite  of  Fonseca,  who  opposed  him  at 
every  step,  L,as  Casas  succeeded,  through 
the  influence  of  his  Flemish  friends,  in  hav 
ing  his  scheme  of  colonization  approved, 
and  he  took  upon  himself  the  task  of  gather 
ing  the  three  thousand  laborers  and  accom 
panying  them  to  the  West  Indies.  I/etters 
of  recommendation  to  all  the  archbishops, 
bishops,  abbots  and  superiors  of  religious 
communities  throughout  the  kingdom  were 
given  to  the  Clerigo,  begging  their  assist 
ance  in  facilitating  the  recruiting  of  the 
immigrants.  Other  letters  were  given  him 
commanding  all  the  officers  of  the  crown  to 
use  their  influence  in  the  same  direction. 
Instructions  were  also  sent  to  the  officers  of 
the  Casa  de  Contratacion  at  Seville,  to  re 
ceive,  lodge  and  board  the  emigrants,  to  be 
sent  there  by  Las  Casas,  and  to  get  ships 
ready  to  transport  them  to  America.  Another 
decree  directed  the  crown  officers  in  His- 
paniola  and  Cuba  to  receive,  shelter  and 
(198) 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    199 

provide  for  trie  incoming  laborers,  and  to 
turn  over  to  them  the  farms  and  plantations 
belonging  to  the  king,  as  soon  as  they 
should  land  on  the  shores  of  those  islands. 
Last  of  all  a  salary  was  assigned  to  the 
Clerigo  as  commissioner  of  immigration, 
and  another  to  his  assistant,  both  of  whom 
were  to  travel  through  Spain  at  the  expense 
of  the  crown. 

Unfortunately  Las  Casas  allowed  himself 
to  be  persuaded  by  an  influential  member  of 
the  royal  household  to  select,  as  his  assistant, 
one  Berrio,  whose  business  was  to  be  that 
of  an  advertising  agent.  On  his  and  Las 
Casas'  arrival  in  a  city,  town,  village  or 
country  district,  he  was  to  act  the  part  of  a 
royal  herald,  call  together  the  people,  and 
make  known  to  them  the  inducements 
offered  by  the  crown  to  whosoever  was  will 
ing  to  emigrate  to  America.  The  Clerigo, 
who  wished  to  recommend  the  interests  of 
his  beloved  Indians  to  his  friends  in  court, 
during  the  three  or  four  months  required  to 
gather  the  emigrants,  spent  some  days  in 
paying  visits  and  in  making  the  necessary 
preparations  for  his  tour.  Meanwhile  Ber 
rio  visited  Fonseca,  who  on  seeing  him, 
said:  "What  are  you  doing  here?  Why 
don't  you  start  out?"  "The  Clerigo  does 
not  care  to  start  as  yet,"  answered  Berrio, 


200    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

"and  I  am  commanded  by  the  king  to  go 
with  him."  The  archbishop  replied  an 
grily:  "Go  yourself  alone,  and  do  what  you 
should  have  done  with  him." 

Berrio.  "I  can't  do  anything  without 
him,  as  the  decree  recites  that  I  go  with 
him  and  do  what  he  tells  me." 

Thereupon  Fonseca  caused  the  decree  to 
be  altered,  and  instead  of  "do  what  he  shall 
tell  you,"  he  inserted,  udo  what  you  shall, 
think  proper. ' ' 

Technically  speaking,  the  archbishop ,  as 
president  of  the  council  for  Indian  affairs, 
had  the  right  to  alter  the  wording  (not  the 
substance)  of  a  royal  decree.  This  altera 
tion  however,  inspired  by  jealousy  and 
hatred,  unworthy  of  an  archbishop  and 
royal  councillor,  defeated  the  undertaking 
of  the  zealous  missionary. 

L,as  Casas  started  out  with  Berrio.  On 
arriving  in  a  village  or  town  the  induce 
ments  to  emigrants  were  published,  and 
the  peasants  were  invited  to  hear  in  the 
church  the  American  priest  speak  about 
America.  The  Protector  of  the  Indians 
lacked  none  of  the  exuberant  eloquence  of 
the  modern  immigration  agent;  and  the 
climate,  the  fertility  and  the  healthfulness 
of  Hispaniola  and  Cuba  were  painted  in 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    201 

glowing  colors.  Across  the  Atlantic  the 
Spanish  farmer,  who  was  now  a  tenant  and 
a  vassal  of  his  landlord,  would  become  a 
freeholder  and  an  independent  citizen,  with 
wealth  within  his  reach.  The  attractions 
were  irresistible,  and  so  numerous  were  the 
well  to  do  farmers  found  ready  to  sell  their 
holdings  and  to  inscribe  their  names  among 
the  prospective  colonists,  as  to  threaten  the 
depopulation  of  entire  estates,  villages,  and 
towns.  The  emigration  ship  was  now  un 
der  full  sails  having  left  port,  figuratively 
speaking,  with  a  favorable  wind.  But  it 
soon  ran  aground.  Spain,  in  1518,  had 
not  yet  shuffled  off  the  feudal  system  of 
landtenure.  The  landlords  and  the  tenants 
were  then  co-owners  of  the  land.  While 
the  former  could  not  expel  the  latter  from 
his  holding  as  long  as  the  rent  was  paid, 
the  tenant  could  not  dispose  of  his  interest 
in  the  farm  without  the  consent  of  the  land 
lord.  Now  let  the  reader  consider  that  the 
large  landed  estates  of  Castile  would  have 
been  rendered  valueless  to  the  landlords, 
had  the  cultivators  of  the  soil  been  ex 
ported,  and  he  will  understand  at  once  why 
the  gentry  of  Spain  made  violent  opposition 
!  to  Las  Casas'  propaganda.  After  a  speech 
1  or  two  by  the  enthusiastic  orator,  more 
would-be  emigrants  presented  themselves 


202    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

than  lie  cared  to  enroll.  But  a  day  or  a 
week  after  there  would  appear  an  announce 
ment  by  the  landlord  of  the  place,  inform 
ing  the  public  that  all  purchases  of  hold 
ings  from  the  would-be  emigrants  would  be 
considered  as  null  and  void.  Then  the 
American  clergyman  was  politely  requested 
to  leave  the  estate.  A  remedy  had  to  be 
found  to  the  high  handed  proceedings  of 
the  counts,  marquises  and  barons;  and  Las 
Casas  went  back  to  court  to  look  for  it. 

The  recruiting  tour  had  lasted  but  a  few 
days,  when  the  Clerigo's  assistant  asked 
permission  to  go  and  pay  a  visit  to  his  wife 
in  another  part  of  the  country.  Of  course 
it  was  repeatedly  refused.  But  Berrio, 
trusting  to  his  credentials,  which  had  been 
altered  by  Fonseca,  took  French  leave  of 
L,as  Casas  and  went.  He  not  only  visited 
his  family,  but  undertook  to  transact  some 
business  on  his  own  account.  Then,  some 
weeks  later,  two  hundred  men,  mostly  tav 
ern  keepers,  ruffians  and  vagabonds,  with 
a  sprinkling  of  real  agriculturists,  arrived  in 
Seville,  accompanied  by  Berrio.  They 
were  the  emigrants  he  had  gathered  ;  and, 
although  no  word  had  been  received  from 
L,as  Casas  about  them,  on  the  strength  of 
his  assistant's-  credentials,  were  promptly 
shipped  to  America.  In  Santo  Domingo, 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    203 

wliere  they  arrived  safely,  nothing  was 
known  of  them,  as  Las  Casas  had  thought 
it  advisable  not  to  dispatch  the  royal  decrees 
until  he  would  be  ready  to  sail  himself 
with  the  immigrants.  Of  the  two  hundred, 
who  landed  without  money  or  provisions, 
some  fell  sick  and  died  very  soon,  and  of 
the  survivors  some  turned  again  tavern 
keepers,  others  found  employment  on  cattle 
farms,  and  some  on  the  piratical  ships  en 
gaged  in  the  Indian  slave  trade.  As  soon 
as  the  news  of  the  emigrants'  departure 
from  Seville  reached  L,as  Casas,  he  lost  no 
time  in  causing  provisions  to  be  shipped  to 
feed  them.  But  these  arrived  too  late, 
when  the  laborers  had  already  scattered, 
and  the  cargo  was  put  tcT  other  uses. 

When  lyas  Casas  arrived  in  Zaragoza 
from  his  recruiting  tour,  the  king  had  al 
ready  left,  and  the  court  was  leaving  for 
Barcelona.  For  several  days  no  business 
was  transacted.  But  scarcely  had  the 
statesmen  settled  down  to  work  again, 
when  the  Clerigo  was  found  on  hand  to 
push  his  immigration  scheme.  Adrian, 
who  had  taken  from  the  beginning  a  lively 
interest  in  the  undertaking,  was  first  inter 
viewed.  On  hearing  that  so  many  laborers 
were  found  ready  and  willing  to  emigrate 
to  the  West  Indies,  the  cardinal  very  graci- 


204    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

ously  complimented  tlie  American  priest, 
and  remarked  that  in  the  course  of  time  he 
would  build  up  another  kingdom  for  his 
majesty,  the  king.  The  archbishop  of  Bur 
gos  was  next  visited,  who,  when  the  Cle- 
rigo  announced  triumphantly  that  ten 
thousand,  instead  of  three  thousand  laborers 
could  be  readily  found  to  go  to  America, 
remarked  "  Great  things  indeed  you  are 
doing."  But  it  was  hard  to  tell  if  Fonseca 
meant  to  be  complimentary  or  ironical. 

The  Protector  of  the  Indians  had  not 
been  many  days  in  Barcelona  when  word 
came  from  America  that  all  the  royal  farms 
in  Hispaniola,  Cuba,  Porto  Rico  and  Ja 
maica  had  been  sold  by  the  monks  of  St. 
Jerome.  This  was  bad  news,  as  they  had 
been  counted  on  to  shelter  the  emigrants 
for  one  year,  while  engaged  in  clearing 
their  own  lands  and  building  their  own 
houses.  Berrio's  escapade,  the  sale  of -the 
farms  and  the  violent  opposition  of  the 
landlords  to  the  emigration  of  their  tenants 
threw  a  damper  on  the  undertaking.  And 
when  the  Clerigo  at  an  informal  meeting 
of  the  council  of  the  Indies  asked  that  he 
be  placed  in  possession  of  the  decree  in 
which  provision  was  made  for  the  support 
of  his  emigrants  for  one  year  after  their  ar 
rival  on  the  Islands,  Fonseca  remarked: 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    205 

"At  this  rate  these  laborers  will  cost  the 
king  more  than  an  army  of  twenty  thousand 
men."  Las  Casas  who  had  never  for  a 
moment  thought  of  importing  peasants  into 
Hispaniola  or  Cuba  to  set  them  adrift  as 
soon  as  landed  in  a  new  country,  and,  many 
of  them,  penniless,  replied  rather  vexedly: 
u Now  that  the  Indians  of  the  islands  are 
dead  and  buried,  does  your  lordship  think 
of  appointing  me  the  executioner  of  the 
Christians?"  He  meant  to  say:  You  have 
caused  the  death  of  the  Indians,  and  now 
you  wish  to  appoint  me  the  hangman  of 
the  Christians.  Fonseca,  who  was  no  fool, 
understood  him  well,  but  bit  his  tongue 
and  said  no  more.  The  decree  for  the  sup 
port  of  the  emigrants  was,  however,  never 
issued,  and  without  it  Las  Casas  was  not 
willing  to  assume  any  further  responsibility 
in  the  matter,  although  ready  to  be  paid 
into  his  hands  was  the  cash  necessary  to 
transport  the  two  hundred  desirable  agri 
culturists,  whom  he  had  already  recruited, 
and  who  were  ready  to  start.  The  emigra 
tion  scheme  was  finally  abandoned  and  Las 
Casas  turned  his  attention  to  another  pro 
ject  of  legislation,  which  had  in  view  the 
evangelization  of  some,  at  least,  of  the  In 
dians  on  the  American  continent. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Las  Casas  Tries  a  New  Scheme  for  Saving 
and  Evangelizing  the  Indians. 


reader  remembers  How  Fonseca  had 
promptly  rejected  the  proposal  sug 
gested  by  Friar  Pedro  de  Cordova,  that  one 
hundred  leagues  of  coast  be  set  aside  as  a 
sort  of  reservation,  where  Spaniards  were 
to  be  forbidden  from  settling  or  landing. 
In  Hispaniola,  Porto  Rico  and  Jamaica 
perhaps  seventy  per  cent  of  the  native 
population  had  already  perished,  and  it 
was  evident  that  in  Cuba  they  would  soon 
meet  with  the  same  fate.  I^as  Casas'  efforts 
were  now  directed  to  save  the  natives  of  the 
continent.  His  conviction  was,  that  the 
Indians  could  be  brought  to  the  knowledge 
and  practice  of  the  Christian  religion  and 
to  adopt  a  civilized  manner  of  life.  This 
could  only  be  done,  he  believed,  by  preach 
ing  to  them  the  Gospel  of  Him,  who  had 
called  Himself  meek  and  humble  of  heart. 
Had  he  not  gained,  in  Hispaniola  and 
Cuba,  by  the  practice  of  evangelical  charity, 
that  influence  and  ascendency  over  the  un 
tutored  children  of  the  forests,  that  made 
(206) 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    207 

them  promptly  comply  with  his  smallest 
requests  and  desires?  He  proposed  now  to 
demonstrate  by  actual  experience  to  the 
ruling  powers,  that  what  was  done  by  the 
Apostles  for  the  Greeks,  the  Romans  and 
the  barbarians,  could  be  done  to  the  ab 
original  Americans.  To  the  Indians  he 
proposed  to  show  that  the  religion  of  the 
Christians  was  not  one  of  blood,  murder  and 
rapine,  but  of  peace,  fraternity  and  love. 

The  Dominicans  and  the  French  Fran 
ciscans  had  already  established  themselves 
in  Venezuela,  and  built  convents  in  two  In 
dian  pueblos.  They  had  not  landed  with 
swords  and  fire-arms  in  their  hands,  but 
with  their  breviaries  and  the  crucifix  as 
their  only  weapons.  Should  these  havens 
of  peace,  the  monasteries,  be  destroyed  in 
order  that  the  Spaniards'  thirst  for  gold 
might  be  quenched?  Should  the  shepherds, 
the  Friars,  see  their  flocks  slaughtered  be 
fore  their  eyes?  Shall  Spain,  the  foremost 
nation  in  Christendom,  allow  a  few  of  her 
cruel  and  unnatural  sons  to  rob,  enslave, 
murder,  and  finally  wipe  off  the  face  of  the 
earth  the  millions  of  helpless  human  beings 
of  the  western  world,  whom  Providence 
had  entrusted  to  her  keeping?  A  remedy 
for  the  Indians  should  be  easily  found.  No 
great  army  is  required  to  prevent  a  set  of 


2oS    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

men,  who  called  themselves  Christians,  and 
were  supposed  to  be  governed  by  her  most 
Catholic  Majesty,  from  destroying  the 
countless  peoples  of  unbounded  regions, 
which  were  granted  to  Spain  by  the  Vicar 
of  Christ  in  order  that  the  kingdom  of  God 
on  earth  might  be  extended  and  the  num 
bers  of  believers  increased. 

These  reflections,  that  spring  spontane 
ously  in  one's  heart,  occupied  the  mind  of 
the  philanthropist,  the  priest,  the  apostle, 
the  Protector  of  the  Indians.  But  experi 
ence  had  taught  him  that,  for  the  time  be 
ing  at  least,  neither  royal  decrees,  or  the 
devoteduess  of  the  ministers  of  religion, 
like  the  Dominicans,  the  Franciscans  and 
the  secular  priests,  could  stem  the  torrent 
of  blood  which  his  countrymen  had  set 
allowing  in  America.  The  insatiable  thirst 
for  gold  must  be  reckoned  with.  When  the 
proposition  was  made  that  one  hundred 
leagues  of  coast  be  set  aside,  where  the  In 
dians  could  be  evangelized  peacefully,  had 
not  Fonseca  remarked  laconically:  there  is 
no  money  in  it  for  the  king? 

A  shrewd  Cuban  cacique,  by  the  name  of 
Hatuey,  had  honestly  believed  that  the 
white  man's  god  was  gold,  and  to  save 
himself  and  his  people  from  his  cruelty, 
endeavored  to  propitiate  him  by  causing  his 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    209 

assembled  tribe  to  give  divine  honor  to  a 
shining  lump  of  the  yellow  metal.  Las 
Casas  devised  a  scheme,  by  which,  he 
thought,  he  could  replenish  the  royal  cof 
fers,  and  call  into  service  the  white  man's 
love  of  gold  in  the  work  of  converting  and 
saving  his  beloved  Indians.  But,  as  the 
unfortunate  Hatuey  learned  too  late  that 
the  god  gold  could  not  be  propitiated,  and 
was  burned  at  the  stake,  so  L,as  Casas 
learned  by  bitter  experience  that  the  same 
censer  cannot  be  used  in  offering  incense  to 
both  God  and  mammon.  I  will  let  him 
unravel  his  own  plan,  which  was  an  im 
provement  on  Pedro  de  Cordova's  sugges 
tion. 

"It  appeared  to  him  that  he  could  find 
in  those  islands  (Hispaniola,  Cuba,  Porto 
Rico  and  Jamaica)  as  many  as  fifty  men, 
friends  of  his,  who,  being  well  inclined  and 
reasonable,  would  cheerfully  engage  in  -such 
a  praiseworthy  undertaking  more  through 
virtuous  motives  and  a  desire  of  serving 
God,  than  for  the  sake  of  profit,  even  sup 
posing  that  they  would  keep  an  eye  open 
to  business,  and  that  acquiring  wealth  in  a 
lawful  manner  would  be  an  incentive  to 
them.  He  did  not  intend  at  first  to  select 
more  than  fifty  individuals,  for  two  reasons. 
First  because  it  was  his  intention  of  ap- 
14 


210    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

preaching  the  Indians  by  peaceful  ways, 
attracting  them  with  presents,  instead  of 
accepting  anything  from  them,  unless  they 
gave  it  of  their  own  accord.  To  do  so, 
fifty  men  were  sufficient,  inasmuch  as  the 
Indians  are  by  nature  good  and  inoffensive, 
unless  provoked.  One  hundred  or  even 
five  hundred  would  do  no  better,  but,  on 
the  contrary  become  a  hindrance  to  each 
other,  the  Spanish  settlers  being  restless 
and  quarrelsome.  This  needs  no  proof,  as 
it  is  known  to  everybody.  Secondly:  be 
cause  fifty  men  are  more  easily  amenable 
to  the  dictates  of  reason,  than  one  hundred 
or  more.  He  calculated  that  ten  thousand 
ducats  would  suffice  to  make  a  beginning, 
which  would  be  contributed  easily  by  fifty 
associates  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred  ducats 
each.  With  that  amount  enough  of  pro 
visions  could  be  bought  to  last  one  year, 
many  triflings  from  Europe  to  be  given  as 
presents  to  the  Indians  to  attract  them  and 
to  gain  their  affections,  all  miscellaneous 
articles  necessary  to  the  settlement,  and 
lastly  two  caravels  to  transport  men  and 
goods  to  be  kept  and  used  afterwards  as 
needed.  He  decided  that  all  the  fifty  men 
should  wear  a  white  uniform,  and  over  it 
certain  crosses,  of  the  same  color  and  shape 
as  those  worn  by  the  knights  of  Calatrava, 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    211 

with  the  addition,  over  the  crosses,  of  cer 
tain  fenilike  brooches,  which  made  them 
more  ornamental  and  attractive.  He  adopted 
this  uniform,  in  order  that  his  fifty  com 
panions  should  appear  to  the  Indians  as  a 
different  kind  of  men  from  the  wicked 
Spaniards,  whom  they  had  seen  or  heard 
of,  and  in  order  that  they  should  be  easily 
distinguishable.  They  were  to  tell  the  In 
dians  how  they  had  been  sent  by  the  king 
of  Spain,  their  good  and  powerful  lord, 
that  he  (the  king)  having  heard  of  the 
wrongs,  scandals  and  oppression  inflicted 
on  them  and  their  neighbors  by  the  Spani 
ards,  had  been  grieved  at  the  news,  and 
that  it  had  all  been  done  against  his  will. 
They  were  also  to  inform  the  Indians  that 
now  the  king  had  sent  to  them  the  fifty 
white-robed  men  to  greet  them  in  his 
name,  and  to  distribute  amongst  them 
many  presents,  which  he  sent  them  from 
Spain  as  tokens  of  his  affection  for  them. 
Henceforth  they  would  also  be  protected 
against  the  wrong  doings  of  the  other  white 
men. 

"Should  God  prosper  the  undertaking,  it 
was  the  Clerigo's  intention,  to  ask  the  Pope 
and  the  king  to  form  his  men  into  a  religi 
ous  sodality  or  confraternity." 

The  plan  thus  far  was  promising,  but 


Life  of  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas. 

Fonseca's  zeal  for  the  revenues  of  the  king 
had  also  to  be  reckoned  with,  and  satisfied. 
Inducements  must  therefore  be  offered,  suf 
ficient  to  move  fifty  decent  Spanish  settlers 
in  America,  to  become  the  associates  of  the 
Protector  of  the  Indians  in  the  good  work 
of  conquering  by  peaceful  ways,  materially 
and  spiritually,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
western  continent  to  the  crown  of  Spain, 
and  to  the  Church.  Las  Casas  had  nothing 
less  in  view,  and  instead  of  one  hundred 
leagues  of  coast,  he  asked  for  a  thousand, 
that  is  for  more  than  had  then  been  ex 
plored.  His  intention  was  to  make  an  ex 
periment  with  fifty  nren;  but,  should  it 
have  proven  successful,  it  would  not  have 
been  difficult  to  locate  other  batches  of  fifty 
white-robed  knights  at  different  points  of 
the  coast.  Las  Casas'  aim  was  also  to  oust 
from  the  continent  the  notorious  Pedrarias 
de  A vila,  who  was  governor  of  the  settle 
ments  in  the  South  American  countries. 
In  wan  toil  cruelty,  and  reckless  destruction 
of  life,  Pedrarias  had  already  acquired  an 
unenviable  reputation.  The  continent  had 
yet  seen  little  more  than  four  years  of  his 
rule,  when  his  Indian  victims  could  have 
been  counted  by  the  hundred  of  thousands. 
Las  Casas'  dream  was  to  convert  the  In 
dians  of  Central  and  South  America  and 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    213 

then  establish  among  them  an  ideal  Chris 
tian  government,  such  as  the  Jesuits  suc 
ceeded,  two  centuries  later,  in  giving  to 
those  farther  South. 

The  plan  of  his  Indian  reservation  and 
scheme  of  colonization  are  contained  in  the 
following  articles  of  agreement,  which  he 
asked  the  king  to  accept.  The  Clerigo 
bound  himself : 

uist.  With  the  help  of  God  to  induce, 
within  two  years,  ten  thousand  Indians  to 
acknowledge,  of  their  own  accord,  the 
sovereignty  of  the  king  of  Spain,  and  to 
live  peacefully  with  the  Spaniards. 

3d.  To  collect  from  the  Indians  and 
from  the  Spaniards  settled  within  the  re 
served  territory,  (which  was  to  be  measured 
from  a  point  on  the  Gulf  of  Venezuela  and 
run  along  the  southern  coast  one  thousand 
leagues)  and  to  pay  into  the  royal  treasury, 
five  thousand  ducats  yearly,  for  the  first 
three  years  ;  fifteen  thousand  for  the  next 
three ;  thirty  thousand  for  the  next  four 
years  ;  and  sixty  thousand  ducats  for  every 
year  thereafter. 

3d.  To  establish,  within  five  years,  three 
colonies  of  fifty  white-robed  crusaders  and 
a  sufficient  number  of  Dominican  and  Fran 
ciscan  Fathers  to  evangelize  the  Indians. 

4th.     To  erect  a  fortress  in  each  of  the 


214    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

white  settlements,  as  a  protection  against 
any  possible  uprising  of  the  Indians. 

5 til.  To  explore  the  country,  and  faith 
fully  to  inform  the  king  of  the  rivers  and 
localities,  where  gold  might  be  found. 

6th.  To  comply  with  the  five  foregoing 
articles  without  doing  any  violence  to  the 
Indians,  but  on  the  contrary,  to  do  nothing 
without  their  good  will  and  full  consent. 

yth.  To  do  every  thing  possible  to  con 
vert  the  Indians  to  the  Christian  religion 
without  putting  the  king  to  any  expense 
whatever.'7 

In  consideration  of  these  obligations, 
which  lyas  Casas  was  to  take  on  himself,  he 
asked  the  king  the  following  favors  and 
privileges : 

"  i st.  His  majesty  must  ask  from  his  Holi 
ness  the  Pope  a  brief,  authorizing  the  Clerigo 
to  select  from  the  Dominican  and  Francis 
can  Orders,  twelve  subjects,  who  would 
volunteer  to  become  his  associates  in  the 
work  of  the  evangelization  of  the  Indians, 
and  to  grant  a  plenary  indulgence,  in  ar- 
ticulo  mortis,  to  all  who  should  die  on  the 
journey  or  while  engaged  in  or  helping  the 
Missions. 

2d.  Authority  should  be  given  the  Clerigo 
to  select  from  among  the  Indians  of  His- 
paniola  and  Cuba  ten  individuals,  who  would 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    215 

go  of  their  own  accord,  to  tlie  main  land, 
on  whatever  Repartimiento  of  the  Spaniards 
they  might  be  found,  and  the  latters'  pro 
tests  and  opposition  notwithstanding. 

3d.  All  Indians  stolen,  or  otherwise  ex 
patriated  from  within  the  limits  of  the  one 
thousand  leagues  reserved,  and  now  held  in 
Cuba,  Hispaniola,  Porto  Rico  or  Jamaica, 
should  be  delivered  to  the  civil  authorities 
to  be  brought  back  to  their  own  countries. 

4th.  One  twelfth  of  the  income  accruing 
to  the  crown  from  this  enterprise  of  the 
Clerigo  should  be  granted  to  the  fifty  lay 
men,  who  were  to  be  his  helpers  and  as 
sociates,  with  power  of  disposing  of  it  by 
will  to  the  first,  second,  third  and  fourth 
generation. 

5th.  All  the  fifty  men  should  be  knighted 
as  knights  of  the  golden  epaulet,  making 
their  knighthood  hereditary  in  perpetuity. 
They  should  be  allowed  the  use  of  side 
arms,  and  coat-of-arms  on  the  Islands  and 
Continent  of  America,  as  soon  as  the  king's 
income  should  reach  the  yearly  sum  of 
fifteen  thousand  ducats  ;  and,  when  three 
settlements  should  be  made,  the  fortresses 
erected,  etc.,  then  their  privileges  of  full- 
fledged  knighthood  of  the  golden  epaulets 
should  be  recognized  throughout  all  the 
domains  of  his  majesty. 


216    Life  oj  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

6tli.  Tlie  fifty  men  and  their  descendants 
were  to  be  forever  exempted  from  all 
taxation  on  personalty  and  realty,  except  in 
the  forms  expressed  in  this  capitulation. 

7th.  The  Clerigo  should  have  the  right 
to  appoint  the  officers  of  the  fortresses  to  be 
erected  and  of  the  white  settlements  to  be 
made. 

8th.  The  knights,  with  the  permission 
of  the  Clerigo  (but  not  without  it)  should 
have  the  right  to  trade  for  pearls  with  the 
Indians,  giving  a  royalty  to  the  king  of  one 
fifth  of  the  profits,  as  long  as  his  yearly  in 
come  from  the  reservation  would  not  exceed 
fifteen  thousand  ducats  ;  and  after,  of  one 
seventh.  The  same  rule  was  to  apply  to 
profits  derived  from  bartering  Castilian 
goods  for  gold.  Of  the  gold  mined  or 
gathered  by  the  knights,  one  sixth  should 
go  as  a  royalty  to  the  king. 

9th.  Each  knight  was  authorized  to  buy 
from  the  Indians  not  more  than  one  square 
league  of  land  to  be  used  as  farm,  planta 
tion  or  pasture,  the  same  to  be  his  in  per 
petuity  and  in  fee  simple,  the  crown  of 
course  retaining  all  rights  of  sovereignty. 

loth.  As  soon  as  one  settlement  of  fifty 
,knights  should  be  made  each  one  of  them 
should  have  the  right  to  import  three  negro 
slaves,  and  when  as  many  as  three  settle- 


Life  oj  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    217 

ments  of  fifty  men  should  be  made,  seven 
more  slaves  for  each  man  should  then  be 
allowed  to  be  imported,  provided  that  it 
should  appear  advisable  to  the  Clerigo  to  do 
so.  The  slaves  were  to  be  half  males  and 
half  females. 

1 1 th.  Each  knight  should  have  the  priv 
ilege  of  citizenship  in  each  one  of  the  white 
settlements,  if  he  owned  a  house  and  kept 
an  agent  there,  while  engaged  in  develop 
ing  his  lands,  provided  that  at  no  time,  he 
should  enjoy  said  rights  of  citizenship  in 
more  than  five  settlements. 

iath.  The  knights  should  enjoy  a  total 
exemption  from  the  tax  on  the  salt  con 
sumed  by  themselves  and  their  households 
while  on  the  reservation. 

1 3th.  Each  knight  should  enjoy  the  right 
of  importing  into  the  reservation  any  mer 
chandise,  goods  or  cattle,  for  ten  years  from 
any  of  the  Spanish  dominions,  free  from 
port,  import  or  export  duty. 

1 4th.  The  knights  should*  be  required 
to  obtain  mining  licenses  ;  but  these  should 
be  granted,  whenever  asked  for,  without 
the  payment  of  any  fees. 

1 5th.  In  case  of  death  of  one  of  the 
knights,  his  immediate  heir,  if  of  age,  is 
bound  to  report  in  person,  at  the  reservation 
for  duty,  and  if  a  minor,  through  a  substi- 


2i8    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

tute,  of  whose  qualifications  the  Clerigo  was 
to  be  the  judge  ;  and  if  no  substitute  is  ap 
pointed  by  the  heir  or  his  representative, 
the  Clerigo  was  empowered  to  appoint  one 
at  his  discretion  to  do  duty,  during  the 
heir's  minority. 

1 6th.  Merchants  and  traffickers,  who 
should  cast  anchor  in  any  of  the  ports  of 
the  reservation  for  the  purpose  of  barter 
ing,  were  forbidden  under  pain  of  death, 
and  the  confiscation  of  all  their  property, 
from  doing  any  harm  or  damage,  giving 
scandal  or  stealing  from  the  Indians,  and 
from  tarrying  on  shore  after  their  com 
mercial  operations  were  completed. 

1 7 th.  The  Indians  of  the  reservation 
were  to  be  assured  by  the  Clerigo  of  their 
liberty,  as  long  as  they  continued  to  live 
peacefully  and  to  pay  tribute  as  other  vas 
sals  of  the  king,  who  pledged  himself  never 
to  place  the  Indians  of  terra  firma  and  of 
the  Islands  within  the  limits  of  the  reserva 
tion,  under  the  tutelage  of  the  Spaniards  or 
to  parcel  them  out  into  Repartimientos,  or 
to  allow  their  enslavement. 

1 8th.  The  king  should  send  to,  and  keep 
on  the  reservation,  a  royal  treasurer  and  an 
auditor  to  receive  and  receipt  for  the 
amounts  due  to  him  according  to  these 
stipulations,  and  to  keep  him  informed  of 
the  doings  and  progress  of  the  colony. 


Life  of'Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    219 

1 9 tli.  The  king  should  also  appoint  a 
judge  for  the  administration  of  civil  and 
criminal  justice  to  the  fifty  knights,  and 
other  people,  Indians  as  well  as  white  men 
on  the  reservation,  provided  that  the  said 
judge  be  not  allowed  to  meddle  in  other 
affairs  of  the  colony  or  the  conversion  of  the 
Indians,  except  when  requested  by  the 
Clerigo.  The  colonists  should  have  the 
right  to  appeal  from  his  sentences  to  the 
Audiencia  (court  of  appeals)  in  the  Island 
of  Hispaniola. 

20th.  The  king  reserved  the  right  to 
send,  every  ten  months,  or  as  often  as  he 
saw  fit,  commissioners  to  report  on  the  pro 
gress  of  the  colony  and  to  take  charge  of 
the  gold,  pearls  and  other  property  belong 
ing  to  the  crown  in  virtue  of  this  agree 
ment. 

2ist.  Should,  during  the  first  ten  years, 
any  island  or  mainland  be  discovered  by 
the  colonists  either  North  or  South,  the  dis 
coverers  should  enjoy  the  same  privileges 
and  emoluments  that  were,  by  letters  patent, 
granted  to  Velasquez  for  the  discovery  of 
Yucatan. 

22d.  The  king  bound  himself  to  carry, 
on  his  ships  (the  colonists  paying  reason 
able  freight  charges)  to  the  reservation, 
fifty  mares,  thirty  cows,  fifty  hogs  and 
fifteen  pack  mules  or  donkeys. 


220    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las .  Casas . 

23rd.  As  soon  as  tlie  revenues  of  the 
king  shall  have  reached  the  yearly  sum  of 
fifteen  thousand  ducats,  he  binds  himself  to 
contribute  two  thousands  of  them  to  the 
conversion  of  the  Indians  to  the  Christian 
religion  and  to  civilized  life. 

24th.  The  following  items  were  also  to 
be  charged  to  the  king,  as  soon  as  his  re 
venues  should  reach  the  sum  of  fifteen 
thousand  ducats:  the  provisions  necessary 
for  the  first  eight  months'  residence  in  the 
reservation  by  the  colonists ;  all  freight 
charges  incurred  in  transporting  the  colo 
nists  and  their  goods  to  the  reservation; 
the  expenses  of  building  the  fortresses  and 
collecting  the  revenues  of  the  king;  what 
ever  presents  should  be  made  to  the  Indi 
ans  or  their  caciques  in  order  to  induce 
them  to  enter  the  service  of  the  king  as 
his  free  vassals,  provided  that  no  more  than 
three  hundred  ducats  yearly,  or  three 
thousand  ducats  in  ten  years  be  spent  in 
such  allowances. 

25th.  The  king  pledges  himself  to  give 
credence  to  no  reports  concerning  the  work 
ings  and  progress  of  the  colony,  except 
such  as  he  shall  receive  from  his  treasurer 
and  auditor. 

26th.  The  fifty  knights  bind  themselves 
juridically  to  abide  by  the  articles  of  this 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.     221 

agreement  under  penalty  of  forfeiting  all 
their  possessions. 

27tli.  The  Clerigo  was  empowered  to 
give  new  rivers,  provinces  and  localities 
such  names  as  he  thought  proper." 

This  remarkable  and  peculiar  contract 
between  the  ruler  of  one  half  of  Europe 
and  of  all  that  was  known  of  America,  and 
the  simple  American  priest,  was  solemnly 
signed  with  all  due  formality  by  Charles  V. 
in  his  own  handwriting  and  by  L,as  Casas 
the  iQth  day  of  May  1520  in  the  city  of 
Corufia. 

But  the  biography  of  L,as  Casas  would  be 
incomplete  without  some  detailed  account 
of  his  struggles,  maneuvres  and  pertinaci 
ous  perseverance  necessary  to  obtain  the 
royal  signature  to  the  foregoing  agreement. 
The  project  naturally  had  to  pass  through 
the  hands  of  the  councillors  composing  the 
bureau  for  Indian  affairs.  Some  of  these 
had  not  forgotten  that  the  Clerigo  had  been 
the  cause  of  their  loosing  their  Repartimi- 
entos  in  the  times  of  Ximenez.  Moreover 
the  new  departure  of  attempting  to  con 
vert,  and  bring  into  subjection  the  Indians 
by  peaceful  means,  was  a  condemnation  of 
the  archbishop's  former  policy  of  enslave 
ment  and  oppression.  L,as  Casas  therefore 
could  expect  nothing  but  opposition  to  his 


222    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

scheme  from  tlie  council  of  tlie  Indies.  He 
spoke  of  it  privately  to  the  Flemish  states 
men,  and  discussed  it  with  the  grand  chan 
cellor  in  particular,  who  approved  of  it  and 
used  his  influence,  in  a  quiet  way,  to  have 
it  accepted  by  Charles  V.  But  no  sooner 
was  it  made  public  and  proposed  to  the 
councillors  for  their  consideration,  than 
these  converted  themselves,  to  use  Las 
Casas'  own  expression,  into  a  battery  of  ar 
tillery  to  attack  it  and  demolish  it,  because 
the  very  shadow  of  the  Clerigo  had  become 
to  them  more  hateful  than  the  fleshless 
skeleton  of  death.  No  serious  objection 
could,  however,  be  made  to  the  new  plan. 
There  is  no  money  in  it  for  the  king,  Fon- 
seca  had  said,  when  the  petition  of  Pedro 
de  Cordova  for  an  Indian  reservation  was 
presented  to  him.  But  Las  Casas  had  now 
provided  for  an  income  for  the  royal 
treasury.  To  reject  it  without  debate  or 
consideration,  was  not  feasible,  because  it 
had  been  presented  by  the  grand  chancellor 
himself.  They  decided  to  shelve  it,  in  the 
hope  that  the  penniless  American  priest 
could  not  much  longer  hang  around  their 
offices  to  press  his  project  of  creating  and 
colonizing  knights  to  help  converting  the 
Indians  by  peaceful  methods.  In  fact  Las 
Casas  had  already  spent  five  or  six  years  in 


Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    223 

going  and  coming  from  America,  in  follow 
ing  the  court  from  place  to  place,  in  look 
ing  after  the  doings  of  the  Monks  of  St. 
Jerome,  in  recruiting  laborers,  etc.  His 
funds  were  wellnigh  exhausted,  and  to 
make  matters  worse,  just  at  that  time, 
when  his  business  should  have  been  pressed 
to  an  issue,  Xevres  and  the  grand  chancel 
lor  had  to  leave  for  France  on  an  embassy. 
Of  course,  during  their  absence,  no  atten 
tion  was.  paid  to  the  Clerigo's  business, 
who,  wellnigh  worn  out  by  the  councillors' 
inactivity,  remarked  one  day  to  Monsieur 
de  la  Mure,  that  he  would  be  compelled  to 
abandon  his  undertaking  for  lack  of  funds 
to  remain  longer  at  court.  The  Dutch 
nobleman  and  another  officer  of  the  king, 
a  kinsman  of  his,  came  to  his  assistance 
with  a  loan. 

On  the  return  of  Xevres  and  the  grand 
chancellor  Las  Casas  became  once  more  a 
frequent  attendant  at  the  meetings  of  the 
councillors  for  the  Indies.  Fonseca  and 
his  associates,  who  were  often  handled 
without  gloves  by  the  American  priest  to 
the  great  satisfaction  of  the  Flemish  cour 
tiers,  daily  advanced  some  new  cr  frivolous 
objection  to  the  Clerigo's  plan,  which, 
though  promptly  answered,  afforded  the 
Spanish  councillors  pretexts  for  postponing 


224    Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

from  day  to  day  the  final  decision.  Some 
outside  pressure  was  necessary.  The  per 
severance,  or  it  might  be  called  the  perti 
nacity  of  Las  Casas  and  his  unceasing  ac 
tivity  in  behalf  of  the  Indians  has  been  a 
subject  of  admiration  for  all  students  of 
early  American  history.  The  fertility  of 
his  mind  in  devising  means  to  his  ends  was 
perhaps  equally  as  remarkable. 

Bach  court  of  Europe,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  had  its  official 
preachers,  and  that  of  Spain  had  eight  of 
them.  As  these  proved  themselves  the 
friends  of  the  American  Indians,  and  the 
advocates  of  right  and  liberty,  I  think  that 
their  names  should  not  be  left  unregistered. 
They  were :  Luis  and  Antonio  Coronel, 
who  had  obtained  their  degrees  in  theology 
in  the  university  of  Paris;  Doctor  La  Fu- 
ente,  who  was  doing  honor  to  the  newly 
established  (by  Ximenez)  university  of  Al- 
cala.  These  three  were  secular  priests,  like 
the  fourth,  whose  name  is  not  given.  The 
fifth  was  Miguel  de  Salamanca,  a  Domini 
can,  who  died  bishop  of  Cuba.  The  sixth 
was  a  Franciscan  Friar  named  Alonzo  de 
Leon,  and  the  seventh  an  Augustinian  by 
the  name  of  Father  Dionisio.  Las  Casas, 
who  wrote  these  details  thirty-two  years 
after,  could  not  remember  the  name  of  the 
last  one. 


Life  o/  Bartolom£  de  Las  Casas.    225 

"The  duty  of  these  preachers,"  he 
thought,  "is  to  defend  truth,  and  to  call 
the  king's  attention  to  the  great  evils, 
which  dishonored  the  Christian  religion, 
and  damned  the  souls  of  millions  of  their 
neighbors."  He  therefore  decided  to  en 
gage,  if  possible,  their  zeal  and  their  in 
fluence  in  behalf  of  his  Indians.  At  first 
he  approached  them  privately,  and  finding 
them  willing  listeners,  he  prevailed  on 
them  to  meet  together  and  to  hear  the  tale 
of  woes  that  came  from  beyond  the  seas. 
I'll  let  the  reader  imagine  with  what  burn 
ing  eloquence  the  first  American  priest 
painted  to  the  preachers  the  pitiless  op 
pression,  the  brutal  slavery,  the  savage  car 
nage  of  his  beloved  Indians  by  the  Spani 
ards.  The  blame  lay  at  the  door  of  the 
bureau  for  Indian  affairs,  and  with  arch 
bishop  Fonseca  in  particular. 

Those  eight  preachers  were  no  mere  or 
namental  orators  hired  to  tickle  the  ears  of 
royalty  on  state  religious  occasions.  Their 
sermons  and  instructions,  they  thought, 
should  serve  to  shape  and  mould  the  morals 
and  the  policies  of  those,  who  then  ruled 
over  the  greatest  empire  the  world  had  ever 
seen.  They  met  together  in  the  convent  of 
St.  Catherine,  and  after  mature  deliberation 
decided,  that  it  was  their  duty  before  God 
15 


2^6    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

to  endeavor  to  stop  the  extermination  of 
tlie  American  Indians.  Their  meetings 
were  numerous  and  were  always  called  by 
Las  Casas.  "Day  after  day,"  says  he,  "at 
the  same  hour  that  Fonseca  gathered  his 
councillors  in  his  house  to  devise  means  to 
destroy  the  Indians,  the  Clerigo  called  the 
preachers  together  in  the  convent  of  St. 
Catherine,  to  formulate  plans  for  saving 
them."  They  first  bound  themselves  by 
solemn  oath,  taken  in  the  presence  of  Las 
Casas  and  on  the  gospels,  to  stand  by  each 
other  and  not  to  falter  or  withdraw  from 
the  compact  until  they  should  obtain  from 
the  council,  or  if  necessary,  from  the  king, 
the  abolition  of  slavery  or  Repartimientos 
of  the  Indians,  their  liberty  and  protection. 
The  scope  of  their  deliberations  had 
widened.  With  them  the  question  was  no 
longer  the  obtaining  for  the  zealous  Amer 
ican  priest  a  piece  of  unexplored  territory 
for  an  Indian  reservation,  wherein  to  ex 
periment  in  the  conversion  of  its  inhabi 
tants,  but  to  put  a  stop  to  the  enslavement, 
oppression  and  destruction,  by  the  Spani 
ards,  of  the  aborigines.  Las  Casas  did  not 
accomplish  the  work  of  firing  the  zeal  and 
the  eloquence  of  the  eight  royal  preachers 
single-handed.  There  happened  to  be  then 
present  at  court  two  of  those  noble  French 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    227 

Franciscans  from  Picardy,  who  had  estab 
lished  a  monastery  at  Cumana,  in  what  is 
now  Venezuela.  One  of  them  was  the 
brother  of  the  queen  of  Scotland.  The 
Clerigo  introduced  them  to  the  grand  chan 
cellor  and  to  the  preachers  and  invited 
them  to  several  of  their  meetings  to  confirm 
his  own  statements  concerning  the  cruel 
ties  and  barbarities  of  the  Spaniards  in 
America. 

The  preachers,  while  firm  in  their  reso 
lutions  to-  leave  nothing  undone  to  obtain 
their  object,  began  by  complying  with  the 
injunction  of  Christ  of  first  admonishing 
privately  their  erring  brethren,  i.  e.  Fon- 
seca  and  his  councillors.  Having  agreed 
upon  the  manner  in  which  the  admonition 
should  be  administered,  they  presented 
themselves  unheralded  at  a  meeting  of  the 
council.  "Most  illustrious  Lords,  and  Most 
Reverend  Archbishop,"  they  said  through 
their  spokesman  Miguel  de  Salanianca, 
uwe,  the  preachers  of  his  majesty  the  king, 
have  ascertained  that  in  the  Indies  our 
countrymen  have  committed  unheard  of 
crimes  against  the  native  population,  whole 
sale  thefts  and  massacres,  that  have  pro 
voked  the  anger  and  the  vengeance  of  God, 
and  have  brought  dishonor  on  the  Christian 
religion.  Numberless  human  beings  have 


228    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

perished  and  lience  large  islands  and  a  por 
tion  of  the  mainland,  erstwhile  teeming 
with  population,  are  now  desolate  and  tin- 
inhabited,  to  the  everlasting  disgrace  of 
the  Spanish  crown.  For,  witness  Holy 
Writ,  4n  the  multitude  of  the  people  there 
is  honor  and  dignity  for  the  king,  while 
contrarywise  a  decreasing  nation  points  to 
his  dishonor  and  disgrace.'  Knowing  as 
we  do  the  wisdom  and  ability  of  the  distin 
guished  personages  composing  this  council, 
to  whom  God  has  intrusted  the  government 
of  the  New  World,  and  whom  he  shall*  call 
to  a  strict  account  for  their  official  policies 
and  conduct,  and  knowing  also  that  those 
peoples  beyond  the  seas,  who  heretofore 
lived  peacefully  in  their  own  countries, 
could  not  have  given  us  cause  for  exter 
minating  them,  we  were  abashed  at  first  at 
the  intelligence  received,  but  concluded 
that  they  alone  should  be  held  accountable 
for  the  irreparable  damage  done,  who  gov 
erned  them.  It  is  our  duty,  as  preachers 
to  his  majesty,  to  expose,  to  combat,  and, 
by  our  exhortations,  to  endeavor  to  extir 
pate  every  abuse,  that  dishonors  and 
offends  the  Divine  Majesty  of  God.  Hence 
we  decided  to  present  ourselves  to  your 
lordships  and  speak  to  you  of  said  crimes, 
and  to  beg  you  to  explain  to  us  how  so 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    229 

great  an  evil  could  have  been  left  so  long 
nnremedied.  And,  inasmuch,  even  to  this 
day,  such  thefts  and  massacres  continue, 
we  admonish  you  to  put  a  stop  to  them. 
By  so  doing,  we  need  not  tell  you,  your 
lordships  will  deserve  God's  choicest  bless 
ings,  and,  by  not  heeding  our  warning,  his 
most  terrible  vengeance.  We  beg  of  you 
also,  with  all  the  respect  and  reverence  due 
to  your  persons,  not  to  attribute  our  com 
ing  thus  to  address  you  to  presumption  or 
temerity,  but  to  receive  our  admonition  in 
the  spirit  that  dictated  it,  which  is,  a  desire 
of  doing  that,  to  which  we  are  bound  by 
God's  commandments. ' ' 

The  fearless  speech  wounded  the  coun 
cillors  to  the  quick,  especially  Fonseca. 
He  gave  vent  to  his  spleen  in  the  following 
words  which  were  taken  down  by  the 
preachers:  uRash  and  daring  has  been 
your  presumption  in  coming  to  reprimand 
the  king's  council.  Casas  must  be  behind 
this  affair.  What  have  the  king's  preach 
ers  to  do  with  his  government,  which  he 
carries  on  through  his  several  councils? 
He  feeds  you  that  you  may  preach  the 
Gospel  to  him,  and  not  to  have  you  meddle 
with  the  government  of  his  dominions." 

The  unwitty  but  insulting  words  of  the 
archbishop  stung  Doctor  De  la  Fuente, 


230    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

who  replied :  "Casas  is  nowhere  here  about, 
but  the  casa  (house)  of  God,  i.  e.  his  honor, 
required  our  presence  here,  and  to  defend 
that  honor  we  are  ready  to  lay  down  our 
lives.  Does  it  appear  to  your  lordship  pre 
sumptuous  that  eight  doctors  in  theology, 
who  can  sit  in  and  address  a  whole  ecu 
menical  council  of  the  universal  Church, 
should  come  to  proffer  an  admonition  to  a 
council  of  the  king?  It  is  our  right  and 
our  duty  to  come  and  admonish  the  king's 
councillors,  and  hence  we  are  here,  my 
lords,  to  exhort  you  and  to  notify  you  that 
you  must  correct  the  many  wrongs  per 
petrated  in  the  Indies,  which  are  the  cause 
of  damnation  of  so  many  souls,  and  of  so 
.  many  sins  against  God.  And  unless  you 
do  correct  them,  my  lords,  we  shall  preach 
against  you  as  against  those  who  do  not 
keep  the  commandments  of  God,  and  do 
not  do  their  duty  to  their  king.  And  this, 
sirs,  is  not  only  to  preach,  but  to  comply 
with  the  Gospel." 

De  la  Fuente's  speech  surprised  the 
councillors  and  frightened  them.  One  of 
them,  a  layman,  blandly  answered  him: 
"This  council  is  doing  its  duty;  it  has  for 
mulated  many  very  wise  laws  for  the  good 
of  the  Indies,  which,  though  your  pre 
sumptuous  conduct  does  not  deserve  it,  we 


Life  ofBartolamd  de  Las  Casas.    231 

shall  show  you,  that  you  may  realize  the 
hight  of  your  temerity  and  of  your  pride." 

"You  shall  have  to  show  us  those  laws, 
and  if  they  will  be  found  good  and  just,  we 
shall  praise  them,  but  if  bad  and  unjust,  we 
shall  send  them  to  the  devil  and  whomso 
ever  upholds  them  with  them.  Your  lord 
ships,  I  presume,  do  not  wish  to  keep  them 
company  on  the  road." 

The  preachers  were  about  to  leave  un 
ceremoniously,  when  the  councillors, 
changing  their  tone,  assured  them  that 
they  would  be  glad  to  show  them  all  the 
'laws  that  had  been  enacted,  and  that  their 
opinions  on  them  would  be  welcomed. 
The  eight  doctors  were  invited  to  come 
back  another  day  for  that  purpose,  and  the 
invitation  was  accepted.  On  their  second 
visit,  having  heard  said  laws  read  to  them, 
the  preachers  asked  for  time  to  put  their 
opinions  in  writing.  They,  who  are  famil 
iar  with  the  noble  Castilian  tongue,  may 
read  it  in  extenso  in  the  CXXXV.  and 
CXXXVI.  chapter  of  the  third  book  of 
Historia  de  Las  Indias  by  Las  Casas.  But 
as  I  have  not  met  anywhere  in  history  a 
more  eloquent  or  more  forcible  plea  for 
American  liberty,  by  either  lawyer,  canon 
ist  or  theologian,  I'll  give  of  it  the  first 
English  translation,  however  disfigured  and 


232    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

emasculated  it  may  appear  in  a  foreign 
dress.  The  translation  is  a  free  one  and 
only  the  preamble  is  left  ont. 

"My  Lords.  To  say  that  we  are  the 
men  directly  appointed  by  Almighty  God 
to  instruct  you  would  be  intolerable  arro 
gance;  but  we  do  affirm  that  we  are,  as  it 
were,  the  eyes  of  this  noble  court.  While 
you  are  profoundly  absorbed  in  the  trans 
action  of  temporal  affairs,  we  employ  our 
time  in  the  study  of  the  law  of  God  and  of 
the  writings  of  its  expounders.  To  do  the 
duties  of  our  office,  and  thus  do  the  will  of 
God,  we  must  be  ever  on  the  watch  to  see, 
if  in  every  department  and  in  every  office 
of  this  court  the  law  of  God  is  observed. 
Those  who  are  zealous  in  the  performance 
of  their  duties  we  must  praise,  but  the 
guilty  and  the  laggard  we  are  bound  to  ad 
monish,  and,  if  necessary,  to  denounce,  in 
order  that  they  may  either  reform  or  be 
held  unexcusable.  Had  we  done  our  full 
duty  in  the  past,  perhaps  there  would  not 
now  be  so  much  corruption  in  many  places. 
May  God  forgive  us  our  past  shortcomings, 
and  give  us  strength  to  repair  them  in  the 
future.  That  we  might  not  be  found  guilty 
of  further  negligence  God  was  pleased  to 
move  and  to  quicken  our  intelligences  to 
give  serious  consideration  to  the  important 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    233 

subject  upon  which  we  are  here  to  address 
you.  A  subject  so  vital  to  the  interests  of 
God  and  of  his  Church,  that  perhaps  not 
in  a  thousand  years  has  Divine  Providence 
assigned  to  a  ruler  or  to  a  nation  a  mission 
more  important  than  the  guardianship  and 
christianization  of  the  countless  thousands 
of  people  beyond  the  seas.  It  is  zeal,  my 
lords,  that  has  moved  us  thus  far,  and  it 
was  zeal  that  made  us  study  and  ponder  on 
the  measures  which  have  been  adopted  by 
this  council.  We  studied  them  to  enable 
ourselves  to  decide  if  they  would  suffice  to 
remedy  the  past  evils,  and  to  prevent  fur 
ther  ones,  and  to  see  if  they  gave  promise 
of  bearing  all  the  fruits,  which  God  and  his 
Church  expects  of  that  part, of  the  king's 
dominion,  and  which  this  nation  should  be 
able  to  offer  them.  This  is  the  conclusion 
which  careful  study  and  mature  delibera 
tion  have  led  us  to.  Should  we  take  it  for 
granted  that  the  Repartimientos  or  Kn- 
comiendas  of  Indians  are  just  and  right, 
then  we  say  that  your  lordships  could  not 
have  enacted  better  or  holier  laws,  to  pre 
vent  their  illtreatment  by  our  countrymen, 
and  to  advance  their  spiritual  welfare.  But 
everything  considered,  it  is  evident,  that 
they  will  never  afford  them  that  protection, 
which  we  are  bound  by  the  law  of  God  to 


234    Life  ofBariolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

give  tliem,  and  of  which  they  stand  in 
need  as  long  as  the  Repartimientos  are 
allowed  to  stand,  and  this  for  two  principal 
reasons  :  ist,  because  your  laws,  let  them 
be  ever  so  good  and  holy,  never  will  be 
properly  executed  as  long  as  the  Reparti 
mientos  are  allowed  to  have  a  legal  exist 
ence.  2d,  because  your  laws,  though  good 
in  themselves,  are  based  on  a  most  unjust 
foundation,  namely  that  of  the  Repartimi 
entos,  which  have  been  the  cause  of  well- 
nigh  all  the  evils  with  which  the  Indies 
are  afflicted.  As  long  as  that  cause  is  not 
removed  it  shall  remain  impossible  to  cure 
the  evils.  As  you  see,  we  have  but  two 
propositions  to  prove,  and  if  we  shall  prove 
the  second,  we  shall  have  proved  them 
both.  The  greatest  of  the  evils,  that  have 
depopulated  some  of  those  countries,  and 
that,  which  will  desolate  the  remaining 
ones,  that,  which  cannot  reasonably  or 
with  justice  be  tolerated,  are  the  Kncomi- 
enclas  of  the  Indians  or  parcelling  them  out 
to  the  Spaniards,  and  allowing  the  latter  to 
force  the  Indians  to  work  for  them,  appro 
priating  to  themselves  all  the  fruits  of  the 
bondsmen's  labor.  The  Kncomiendas  as 
they  exist  now,  are  detrimental,  ist  to  the 
Indian's  wellfare;  2d  they  are  unreasonable 
and  unwise;  3d  they  are  against  the  in- 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    235 

terests  of  the  Spanish  crown;  4tli  they  are 
opposed  to  all  the  rules  of  civil  and  canon 
law;  5th  they  contradict  the  teachings  of 
moral  philosophy  and  theology;  6th  they 
are  forbidden  by  the  laws  of  God  and  of  his 
Church.  You  shall  see,  my  lords,  if,  while 
as  damnable  an  institution  as  the  Kncomi- 
endas  is  allowed  to  stand,  the  evils,  directly 
traceable  to  it,  can  be  eradicated  by  statu 
tory  enactments.  That  you  may  not  accuse 
us  of  exaggeration,  I  will  proceed  to  prove 
logically  and  to  your  satisfaction  each  of 
our  six  assertions. 

We  said  first  that  the  Kncomiendas  are 
detrimental  to  the  Indian's  wellfare.  We 
cannot  argue  against  facts.  Since  the 
time,  when,  under  pretext  of  bringing  into 
close  contact  the  Indians  with  the  Spani 
ards,  in  order  that,  it  was  said,  the  former 
might  learn  from  the  latter  the  Christian 
religion,  the  system  of  Repartimientos  was 
established,  those  once  thickly  inhabited 
countries  became  deserts.  Should  all  man 
kind  set  to  thinking  for  the  purpose  of  de 
vising  a  plan  more  destructive  of  society 
among  the  Indians,  they  could  not  find  it. 
For  the  Kncomiendas  make  a  state  or  com 
monwealth  impossible  among  them.  In 
every  civil  community  of  men  there  must 
necessarily  be  found  a  diversity  of  offices, 


236    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

professions  and  trades.  But  all  these  are 
merged  into  one  by  the  Repartimientos, 
that  of  digging  dirt.  Who  has  ever  heard 
of  a  whole  people  or  nation  of  diggers?  As 
things  are  now,  there  can't  be  amongst  the 
Indians  either  soldiers,  philosophers,  men 
of  letters,  tradesmen,  etc.,  and  thus  those 
peoples,  fitted  out  by  the  Creator  to  form 
themselves  into  well  ordered  nations,  are 
forced  to  engage  only  in  the  lowest  occupa 
tion,  that  of  digging  dirt.  Our  islands 
beyond  the  Atlantic  shall  be  compared  to 
those  on  which  the  Romans  exiled  the  mar 
tyrs  and  the  malefactors,  ad  fodienda  me- 
talla.  Nay,  we  do  worse  than  the  Romans; 
for  they  did  not  kill  the  exiles  with  labor, 
as  the  Spaniards  do  the  natives  of  the  In 
dies.  The  Kncomiendas  are  detrimental  to 
the  Indians  because  they  make  slaves  of 
them,  and  to  enslave  men  is  against  the 
law  of  nature  and  the  law  of  God.  That 
the  Kncomiendas  are  nothing  less  than 
slavery  is  proved  by  your  own  ordinances. 
In  fact  one  of  them  ordered  the  lyicenciado 
Figueroa  to  set  free  those  among  the  In 
dians,  who  should  -ask  for  their  liberty. 
They  must  therefore  have  been  slaves. 
However,  in  order  that  our  argument  may 
not  have  even  the  semblance  of  cavil  or 
sophistry,  we  shall  prove  aliunde  that  the 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    237 

Kncomiendas  constitute  real  slavery.  He 
is  free  who  can  dispose  of  his  own  actions. 
But,  if  the  life,  the  industry,  the  work  and 
all  the  fruits  thereof  of  the  Indians  belong 
to  some  one  else,  how  can  they  be  said  to 
be  free?  Their  liberty  is  but  a  dead  letter, 
written  in  your  laws,  but  unknown  to  the 
unfortunate  bondsmen.  If  you  say,  my 
lords,  that  they  are  paid  a  salary  for  their 
labors,  and  that  they  are  fed,  we  answer 
that  the  salary  and  the  food  they  get  is  not 
equal  to  half  what  the  legal  slaves  get  here 
in  Spain.  The  cloak  of  liberty,  with 
which  the  Spaniards  clothe  the  Indians,  is 
but  an  additional  instrument  of  torture  and 
of  death.  Were  they  legal  slaves,  they 
would  have  a  commercial  value,  and  their 
masters  would  care  for  them  and  treat  them 
better,  as  their  death  would  be  a  loss  to 
them.  But  granting,  for  argument's  sake, 
that  the  Indians  are  free,  is  it  recorded  in 
the  annals  of  history  that  any  other  people 
were  ever  treated  as  the  native  Indian  is 
by  the  Spaniard?  The  slavery  to  which 
Pharao  subjected  the  children  of  Israel  is 
but  an  ounce  in  the  pound  compared  to 
the  condition  of  the  Indians  in  the  Indies. 
The  Jews,  though  compelled  to  work,  were 
not  robbed  of  their  possessions  by  the  Egyp 
tians,  and,  although  in  bondage,  were 


238    Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

never  dispossessed  of  their  wealth..  And  so 
true  it  is  that  they  were  well  treated  that 
later,  while  in  the  wilderness,  they  wished 
to  return  to  the  flesh  pots  of  Egypt.  The 
children  of  Israel  in  slavery  increased  and 
multiplied;  but,  though  you  left  the  Indi 
ans  with  a  phantom  of  liberty,  they  perished 
and  made  of  their  country  a  desert.  Who 
ever  heard  of  the  prince  or  of  the  tyrant 
that  compelled  his  people  to  work  for  him 
or  his  favorites  more  than  nine  months  in 
the  year?  The  blind  can  see  that  it  is  un 
just.  Can  we  expect  anything  better  than 
a  commensurate  punishment  for  such  an 
unspeakable  crime?  May  we  not  expect 
(and  would  to  God  that  we  prove  false  pro 
phets)  that  it  shall  cause  the  undoing  and 
destruction  of  this  our  Spanish  common 
wealth?  In  seeking  to  prove  that  the  Kn- 
comiendas  are  detrimental  to  the  Indians, 
we  have  proved  that  they  are  detrimental 
to  Spain  also.  To  force  the  Indians,  who 
were  bred  and  born  in  idleness,  to  work 
continuously  in  the  mines,  nine  months  in 
the  year,  means  to  condemn  them  to  death. 
The  forty  days  which  you  call  vacation, 
serve  only  to  hasten  their  destruction.  In 
fact,  during  that  time,  they  are  required  to 
work  their  lands,  which  is  but  a  continua 
tion,  if  a  change,  of  labor.  The  frequent 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    239 

change  of  climate  from  tlie  mines  to  the 
fields,  the  change  of  diet  and  mode  of  life, 
instead  of  strengthening,  debilitates  them 
more  and  more.  At  the  end  of  the  forty 
days  of  partial  freedom,  experience  has 
taught,  they  reenter  the  mines  to  succumb 
and  perish. 

The  Bncomiendas  are  in  every  way  un 
wise  and  unreasonable.  All  the  laws  that 
your  lordships  may  formulate,  be  they  as 
numerous  as  those  of  both  the  civil  and  the 
criminal  codes  combined,  all  the  provisions 
that  the  judges  in  the  Indies  may  adopt, 
let  both  the  legislators  and  the  judges  be  as 
incorruptible  as  the  angels  of  God,  will  not 
avail  to  correct  the  abuses  which  yearly 
decimate  the  Indians.  Who  shall  coerce 
the  Spaniards  to  keep  the  laws?  In  moun 
tain  fastnesses,  where  only  the  eye  of  God 
and  the  fowls  of  the  air  see  them,  where  a 
justice  of  the  peace,  a  court  or  a  marshal  is 
not  to  be  found  within  fifty  or  sixty 
leagues,  those  Christians  manage  the  Indi 
ans  with  an  iron  hand.  Who  shall  bridle 
their  greed  or  curb  their  avarice,  and  pre 
vent  them  from  working  the  Indians  to 
death?  Especially  when  before  them  shines 
the  yellow  metal  si  dolosi  spes  refulserit 
numif  Your  lordships  have  legislated  as 
to  the  quality  and  the  quantity  of  food  to 


240    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

be  given  the  Indians.  But  who  shall  weigh 
the  meat  before  it  goes  into  the  pot?  Who 
shall  accuse  the  Spaniard,  if  the  Indian  die 
under  the  lash  or  the  cudgel?  You  will 
say  that,  the  visitadores  (visitors)  will  in 
quire  into  abuses  and  punish  the  delin 
quent.  At  the  mines  there  are  only  the 
Indians  and  their  masters  or  their  represen 
tatives.  Will  the  wretched  slave  dare  to 
accuse  his  master  to  the  visitador,  if,  the 
latter  gone,  it  will  be  in  his  power  to  roast 
him  alive?  We  need  not  go  to  the  Indies 
for  proofs  of  our  assertion.  If  there  be  an 
inquest  held  in  a  murder  case,  do  we  go  to 
the  servants  or  slaves  of  the  suspected 
criminal  for  the  evidence  of  his  guilt?  You 
well  know,  my  lords,  that  the  Indian  is 
but  a  servant  or  slave  of  him,  of  whose 
Kncomienda  he  is  part  and  parcel.  But 
experience  has  taught  that,  should  the  In 
dian  complain,  his  testimony  would  not  be 
accepted,  because  the  visitador  looks  upon 
the  master  as  a  man  or  perhaps  as  a  bene 
factor,  and  upon  the  slave  as  a  beast.  Un 
less  you  place  on  every  Repartimiento  an 
angel,  who  neither  sleeps  or  eats,  you  can 
not,  my  lords,  correct  the  cruel  abuses  by 
statutory  enactments,  as  long  as  the  En- 
comiendas  are  allowed  to  stand.  The  En- 
comiendas  are  detrimental  to  the  king,  be- 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    241 

cause  they  deprive  him  of  that,  which, 
according  to  the  scriptures,  make  him 
great  and  powerful,  the  people.  Secondly, 
because  they  deprive  him  of  the  revenues, 
which  might  be  legitimately  derived  from 
the  Indies,  and  which  would  increase  his 
wealth  and  that  of  his  kingdom.  Me  think, 
I  hear  those  fertile  lands  themselves  cry  out 
that  the  Spaniards  are  making  them  barren, 
while  elsewhere  throughout  the  world 
many  human  beings  are  starving.  Thirdly, 
they  are  detrimental  to  the  king,  because 
they  deprive  him  of  the  only  just  title  he 
has  to  the  supreme  dominion  over  those 
countries.  Every  prince,  king  or  ruler  can 
only  have  a  title  to  his  dominions  in  one  of 
the  following  manners  :  ist,  by  right  of  in 
heritance  ;  sd,  by  the  transferance  by  a 
superior  power  (no  human  being  is  with 
out  a  superior)  and  for  a  just  cause,  of  a 
people  from  the  dominion  of  one  to  that  of 
another  ruler  ;  3rd,  by  the  submission  of  a 
people  themselves,  and  of  their  own  accord 
to  the  dominion  of  the  ruler.  He  is  neither 
prince,  king  or  ruler,  but  a  tyrant,  who 
does  not  hold  one  of  these  titles  to  his  pos 
sessions.  Now  it  is  notorious  that  the 
kings  of  Spain  do  not  hold  their  trans 
atlantic  possessions  by  either  the  right  of 
inheritance  or  the  free  will  of  the  Indians. 
16 


242    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

Their  only  title  to  tliem  is  the  apostolic 
concession  which,  it  expressly  recites,  was 
made  for  the  good  and  the  advancement  of 
those  people.  As  the  Kncomiendas  oppress 
them  and  destroy  them  or  make  them  un 
willing  vassals,  it  follows  that  they  destroy 
the  only  title  that  our  monarchs  have  to 
rule  over  the  Indians.  The  Encomien- 
das  proclaim  our  monarchs  tyrants.  For 
all  this  the  king  shall  have  to  give  a  strict 
account  to  God;  and  it  behooves  your  lord 
ships,  who,  as  his  agents  and  representa 
tives,  have  assumed  his  responsibility,  to 
look  into  and  to  scrutinize  the  subject  with 
mature  deliberation  and  care.  We  must 
go  a  step  farther.  The  Encomiendas  are 
worse  than  an  open  enemy  in  battle  array. 
That  enemy  could  only  deprive  the  king  of 
those  possessions,  but  never  of  his  right  to 
them.  The  Encomiendas  deprive  him  of 
that  right,  and,  in  the  end,  of  the  posses 
sions  themselves. 

The  Encomiendas  break  all  rules  of  phi 
losophy  and  of  moral  theology.  The  end 
of  man  is  the  possession  of  God  in  the 
hereafter.  The  practice  of  the  moral  vir 
tues  is  the  means  to  that  end,  and  the  pres 
ent  life  was  intended  to  give  us  an  oppor 
tunity  to  practice  them.  Life  itself  then  is 
a  means  to  virtue,  as  food  and  raiment  are 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    243 

the  means  to  life,  and  money  the  means  of 
procuring  food  and  raiment.  Is  it  right  to 
barter  the  futnre  and  the  present  life,  the 
virtues  and  the  very  food  of  the  Indians  for 
the  sake  of  money?  Nay,  more.  Ex 
perience  has  taught  that  the  thirst  for 
gold  has  not  only  prevented  the  moral  vir 
tues  and  religion  being  taught  to  the  In 
dians,  but  it  caused  the  Christians  to  lose 
their  faith  and  to  abandon  the  practice  of 
the  Christian  virtues.  They  are  growing 
more  inhuman  and  more  merciless  than  the 
tigers  in  the  forest.  The  Kncomiendas  are 
manifestly  not  according  to  the  will  of  God, 
qui  vult  omnes  homines  salvos  fieri.  With 
out  faith,  your  lordships  know  it,  it  is  im 
possible  to  enter  eternal  life  ;  and,  because 
faith  comes  from  hearing,  the  Son  of  God 
came  to  preach  it,  and,  in  order  that  every 
creature  might  hear  it,  he  transformed  his 
twelve  rude  disciples  into  masters  of  elo 
quence  and  wisdom.  At  last  in  order  that 
the  glad  tidings  of  Redemption  might  reach 
those  vast  transatlantic  regions,  the  Indians 
were  intrusted  to  our  care.  But  alas  !  the 
damnable  Encomiendas  choke  the  voice  of 
the  apostles  and  estop  the  work  of  God. 
For  how  shall  the  preacher  instruct  a  people 
oppressed  and  broken  down  by  labor?  The 
Spaniards  possessed  of  Encomiendas  are 


244    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

the  greatest  enemies  of  those  apostolic 
clergymen,  who  are  engaged  in  the  evan 
gelization  of  the  Indians.  They  fear  that 
if  their  bondsmen  are  taught  to  know  the 
difference  between  virtue  and  vice,  they 
will  also  learn  how  deficient  is  the  former 
and  how  abundant  is  the  latter  in  their 
masters.  The  Indians,  they  think,  hate  us 
now,  but  they  will  look  upon  us  as  devils 
incarnate,  if  they  learn  the  Christian  re 
ligion.  And  it  is  not  sufficient  to  preach 
the  faith  ;  the  words  of  the  preacher  must 
not  only  carry  conviction  to  the  intelligence 
of  the  hearer,  but  it  must  also  gain  their 
affections,  and  touch  their  hearts.  How 
shall  the  Indians  be  convinced  of  the  divine 
origin  of  God's  law,  and  how  shall  they 
learn  how  to  love  it  if  the  so-called  Chris 
tians  are  their  cruel  taskmasters,  oppressors 
and  executioners? 

The  Kncomiendas  are,  last  of  all,  detri 
mental  to  the  Church  of  God.  Inasmuch 
as  in  the  Indies  everybody  is  busy  digging 
the  earth,  to  look  for  gold,  those  fertile 
lands  remain  untilled  and  unproductive. 
Hence  no  tithes  can  be  collected,  where 
with  to  support  zealous  bishops  and  priests 
to  teach  the  Gospel  to  as  many,  (as  would 
be  converted)  as  there  are  now  faithful 
throughout  the  world .  Let  those ,  who  ad vo- 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    245 

cate  and  uphold  the  system  of  Kncomiendas, 
tremble  at  the  strict  account  they  shall  have 
to  give  to  God,  Our  Lord,  who  is  no  accepter 
of  persons,  and  who  cares  not  a  farthing 
whether  he,  who  is  to  be  judged,  be  a  great 
prince,  a  prelate  or  a  swine-herd.  It  is 
time,  my  Lords,  for  you  to  act.  God  and 
the  king,  to  honor  you,  and  as  a  testimonial 
of  your  past  services,  have  charged  you 
with  this  delicate  and  difficult  mission  of 
eradicating  so  many  evils  and  uplifting  the 
yoke  from  an  oppressed  people.  If  you  do 
it,  my  lords,  we  shall  pray  that  God  may 
give  you  honor  and  prosperity  in  this  life, 
and  an  endless  reward  in  the  next.  Amen. ' ' 

The  oratorical  form  of  the  foregoing  ad 
dress  belongs  to  the  preachers  exclusively. 
But  as  Las  Casas  was  their  principle  source 
of  information,  the  substance  of  it  must  be 
attributed  to  him. 

Thus  far  the  Clerigo  and  the  preachers 
had  acted  harmoniously.  But  when  they 
came  to  suggesting  means  for  correcting 
abuses,  they  parted  ways.  All  agreed  that 
the  Kncomiendas  must  be  abolished.  But 
the  eight  doctors  were  of  opinion  and  re 
commended  that  the  Indians  be  gathered 
into  pueblos  or  villages  of  some  two  hun 
dred  families  each  ;  that  to  each  pueblo  be 
assigned  a  governor  with  a  fixed  salary  to 


246    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

be  paid  by  the  king,  who  should  train  them 
to  agricultural  pursuits,  assigning  to  each 
family  a  tract  of  land  to  be  owned  in  sev- 
eralty,  and  worked  under  his  supervision. 
The  governor  should  also  select  a  number 
of  male  Indians  from  every  pueblo  and 
assign  them  to  the  work  of  the  mines  at 
certain  seasons  of  the  year.  No  individual 
however  should  be  forced  to  said  work 
more  than  six  months  in  the  year,  and  the 
profits  of  mining  and  farming  should  accrue 
to  the  Indians  exclusively,  after  deducting 
the  expenses  of  administration,  a  reasonable 
royalty  for  the  king,  and  the  tithes  due  the 
Church. 

Las  Casas,  who  knew  the  mines  had  been 
in  the  past,  and  that  they  would  continue 
to  be  the  graves  of  the  Indians,  would  agree 
to  nothing  less  than  absolute  freedom  for 
his  protegees.  Let  them  go  back,  he 
argued,  to  their  native  hamlets,  to  their 
native  clime  and  surroundings,  let  them 
again  work  in  their  own  way  their  own 
patches  of  maiz,  of  cotton,  of  sugar,  the 
yucca  root,  etc.,  and  like  rabbits,  they  will 
once  more  multiply  in  their  forest  homes, 
instead  of  perishing  suffocated,  so  to  say,  by 
the  atmosphere  of  an  artificial  civilization 
forced  on  them  too  suddenly.  Meanwhile 
the  priest  will  go  to  them,  evangelize  them 


Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    247 

and  teach  tliem  the  beauties  and  the  benefits 
of  Christian  life  without  depriving  them  of 
their  liberty.  Civilization,  the  social  and 
political  life  of  the  old  world  will  come 
later,  gradually  and  naturally.  Had  not 
the  preachers'  plan  been  tried  by  the  monks 
of  St.  Jerome  and  failed?  And  why?  Be 
cause  even  if  a  scaffold  should  be  erected 
near  the  door  of  every  Spaniard's  house  in 
the  Indies,  the  natives  would  continue  to 
be  oppressed  by  the  white  as  long  as  these 
were  allowed  any  authority  over  the  Indians. 
The  council  had  listened  to  the  address  of 
the  preachers  respectfully,  and  had  promised 
to  adopt  of  their  suggestions  what  appeared 
to  be  advisable  and  feasible.  But  L,as  Casas 
had  lost  faith  in  Fonseca  and  his  council 
lors.  He  knew  that  nothing  would  come 
of  their  promises ;  and  as  the  doctors  had 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  they  had  fully 
complied  with  their  duty  and  their  oath, 
the  American  priest  was  left  once  more  to 
prosecute  singlehanded  his  scheme  of  an 
Indian  reservation  and  colonization. 

Finding  it  necessary  to  come  to  open 
hostilities  with  Fonseca  and  his  council, 
he  detailed  at  length  to  all  the  favorites  of 
Charles  V.  (especially  to  the  Dutchmen) 
now  in  writing,  now  in  private  conversa 
tions,  all  the  rottenness  and  wickedness  of 


248    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

their  former  administration  of  Indian  affairs, 
not  forgetting  to  explain  how  in  past  years 
they  had  held  Kncomiendas  of  thousands  of 
Indians,  most  of  whom  had  been  worked  to 
death  by  their  agents  to  fill  the  coffers  of 
the  absentee  landlords.  The  past  recom 
mendations  of  the  Clerigo  had  caused  the 
loss  of  their  Encomiendas,  and  hence  this 
vengeful  opposition  to  every  thing  pro 
posed  by  the  Protector  of  the  Indians  in 
their  behalf.  The  youthful  but  shrewd 
monarch,  who  kept  well  informed  about 
the  doings  and  pleadings  of  the  American 
priest,  decided  at  last  to  have  his  scheme 
looked  into  and  studied  by  a  special  com 
mittee  appointed  ad  hoc,  and  left  at  first  the 
selection  of  its  members  to  the  Clerigo  him 
self.  But,  fearing  criticism  for  appearing 
to  decide  in  advance  the  point  to  be  dis 
cussed,  he  ordered  that  all  the  different 
councils  of  state,  that  for  the  Indies  as  well 
as  that  of  war,  the  one  for  the  government 
of  Flanders,  that  of  the  inquisition,  etc., 
should  sit  as  an  investigating  committee  to 
inquire  into  the  advisability  of  accepting 
L,as  Casas'  plan  of  colonization  within  the 
boundaries  of  an  Indian  reservation.  The 
meetings  of  this  committee  were  quite 
numerous,  and  as  many  as  forty  council 
lors  attended  them,  among  them  the  cardi- 


Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    249 

nal  of  Tortosa,  the  future  Pope  Adrian  the 
IV.  With  some  complacency,  L,as  Casas 
remarks  that  it  was  quite  an  extraordinary 
occurrence  to  see  a  simple  priest,  without  a 
title,  or  an  estate,  and  the  most  hated  man 
in  the  Indies  induce  all  the  court  of  Spain 
to  sit  in  judgment  as  between  a  royal  coun 
cil  and  himself  over  a  proposal  made  by 
him  alone.  But  he  knew  not  himself  the 
magnitude  and  importance  of  what  he  was 
asking.  The  one  thousand  leagues  of 
coast,  which  no  man  should  set  foot  upon 
without  his  consent,  had  been  reduced  to 
two  hundred  and  fifty.  Nevertheless,  by 
referring  to  a  map,  the  reader  will  see  that 
his  Indian  reservation  would  have  included 
the  greatest  portion  of  Spanish  South 
America,  from  the  northern  boundary  of 
the  present  republic  of  Venezuela  to  Cape 
Horn.  He  learned  it  however  before  his 
death;  for  he  wrote  about  the  year  1550 
that,  although  only  two  hundred  and  sixty 
leagues  had  been  granted,  the  territory  of 
his  reservation  extended  two  or  three 
thousand  leagues  inland. 

A  certain  L,icenciado  Aguirre,  member  of 
more  than  one  royal  council,  having  heard 
that  L,as  Casas  (whom  he  had  always  ad 
mired  as  a  disinterested  and  zealous  priest) 
had  promised  the  king  certain  revenues  in 


250  Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

exchange  for  privileges  and  favors  to  be 
granted  to  the  knights  of  the  golden  epaulet, 
was  scandalized  at  the  new  way  of  preach 
ing  the  gospel,  which,  it  seemed  to  him, 
bore  the  stamp  of  a  worldly  bargain.  "I 
would  never  have  believed  that  of  Las 
Casas  ;"  said  he  to  a  friend.  The  Clerigo 
heard  of  the  remark,  and  meeting  him  one 
day,  "Sir,"  he  said,  "if  you  should  see 
Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  illtreated  by  some 
villain  who  should  lay  hands  upon  Him 
and  load  Him  with  abuse,  would  you  not 
beg  and  entreat  with  tears,  that  He  be 
turned  over  to  you  in  order  that  you  may 
adore  Him,  serve  Him,  and  do  Him  homage, 
and  everything  else  that  would  suggest 
itself  to  you  as  a  Christian?"  "Most 
assuredly,7'  said  Aguirre.  "And  if  the 
villain  would  not  give  Him  to  you,  but 
would  offer  to  sell  Him,  would* you  not  buy 
Him?"  Aguirre:  "Most  undoubtedly." 
"Then,"  said  the  Clerigo  :  "That  has  been 
my  way  of  doing.  When  I  left  the  Indies, 
Our  Lord  was  being  scourged,  buffeted  and 
crucified,  not  once,  but  a  thousand  times, 
as  far  as  the  work  of  our  countrymen  is 
concerned,  who  beat  down  the  Indians, 
oppress  them  and  deprive  them  of  the 
opportunity  to  be  converted,  by  killing 
them,  and  sending  them  into  eternity  with- 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    251 

out  faith,  and  without  sacraments.  I  have 
begged  and  I  have  entreated  times  without 
number  the  royal  council,  to  put  a  stop  to 
the  crimes  of  the  Spaniards,  who  block 
their  way  to  eternal  life  by  enslaving  them. 
I  have  begged  that  the  bondsmen  be  set 
free,  and  that  the  Spaniards  be  not  allowed 
to  go  where  the  missioners,  the  servants  of 
God,  have  already  begun  to  preach  the 
gospel,  in  order  that  the  natives  may  be  not 
made  to  curse  the  name  of  Christ  on  account 
of  the  cruelties  and  the  scandals  of  the 
whites.  They  answered  me  that  it  was 
not  advisable  to  turn  over  those  countries  to 
the  friars,  who  would  pay  no  tribute  to  the 
king.  As  I  saw  that  it  was  their  intention 
to  sell  me  the  privilege  of  preaching  the 
gospel,  and  to  sell  me  Christ  who  was  thus 
by  them  scourged,  buffeted  and  crucified, 
I  made  up  my  mind  to  buy  him  by  promis 
ing  worldly  goods,  revenues  and  riches  to 
the  king  in  the  manner  you  have  heard  of. ' ' 
The  ingenious  answer,  which  displayed  a 
burning  love  of  God  and  of  the  Indians, His 
creatures,  silenced  any  further  criticism  of 
his  scheme  from  all  well-meaning  men,  and 
increased  among  the  courtiers,  who  heard 
of  it,  the  number  of  his  friends.  But  the 
battle  by  any  means  was  not  yet  over. 
Fonseca  received  it  as  an  insult  that  the 


252    Life  ofBartoloin&  de  Las  Casas. 

Clerigo  sliould  have  been  allowed  to  name 
several  members  of  the  commission,  and 
knowing  in  advance  that  he  would  find 
nearly  the  whole  conrt  his  antagonists,  and 
the  partisans  of  the  simple  American  priest, 
refused  several  times  to  attend  its  meetings, 
alleging  indispositions  and  other  frivolous 
pretexts.  But  the  grand  chancellor  fetched 
him  more  than  once  by  simply  calling  him 
to  council  without  indicating  the  subject  to 
be  discussed,  and  even  allowing  the  im 
pression  to  prevail  that  it  would  be  now  a 
council  of  war,  now  a  council  of  state,  of 
both  of  which  departments  the  bishop  was 
a  member.  L,as  Casas  in  his  Historia  de 
Las  Indias,  describes  amusingly  several 
passages  at  arms  between  himself  and  the 
archbishop  of  Burgos.  The  Clerigo,  though 
having  no  voice  in  the  council,  was  called 
in  several  times  as  a  witness,  and  to  defend 
his  own  cause.  The  plaudits  freely  given 
to  the  brave  priest,  and  the  almost  un 
animous  opposition  of  the  councillors,  so 
angered  the  courtier  prelate,  that  he  ceased 
to  appear  at  the  palace  without  the  com 
pany  of  influential  and  popular  Antonio 
Fonseca,  his  brother.  The  final  decision 
reached  at  these  cabinet  meetings,  as  we 
would  call  them  nowadays,  was  that  the 
Clerigo  be  granted  what  he  asked,  and  that 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    253 

lie  be  afforded  an  opportunity,  through  the 
ministration  of  the  Dominicans  and  Francis 
cans,  of  having  the  gospel  preached  to  the 
South  American  Indians.  The  necessary 
decrees  were  being  prepared,  and  Las  Casas 
thought  that  his  labors  at  court  had  come 
to  an  end.  But  Fonseca  had  not  yet  given 
up  his  case.  It  happened  just  then  that 
Gonzalo  Hernando  de  Oviedo  had  arrived 
from  the  settlement  governed  or  misgoverned 
by  Pedrarias  in  South  America.  The 
famous  official  chronicler  had  gone  to  the 
Indies  an  appointee  of  Fonseca,  to  be  veedor 
•or  royal  inspector  of  that  distant  colony. 
There  were  then  as  usual  hanging  around 
the  court  agents  sent  by  the  Spaniards  in 
Hispaniola,  Porto  Rico,  Cuba  and  Jamaica 
to  protect  their  interests,  the  Reparti- 
mientos,  and  to  counteract  the  influence  of 
the  Clerigo,  who  had  assumed  the  task  of 
destroying  them.  At  the  instigation  of 
Fonseca  Oviedo  and  the  Hispaiio-Ameri- 
cans  got  together,  and  presented,  through 
the  Indian  council,  a  memorial  to  the  king, 
in  which  they  gave  their  reasons  why  the 
grants  made  to  Las  Casas  should  be  an 
nulled  and  the  policy  of  the  archbishop  of 
Burgos  readopted.  They  offered  at  the 
same  time  to  guarantee  double  the  amount 
of  revenues  promised  by  the  Clerigo  to  the 


254    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Caaas. 

king  in  case  a  similar  concession  should  be 
made  to  them.  The  proposition  was  first 
presented  to  the  grand  chancellor,  who,  by 
this  time  had  learned  to  appreciate  at  its 
value  the  spirit  of  hatred,  jealousy  and 
malice  that  moved  Fonseca  to  oppose  L,as 
Casas.  He  refused  to  consider  it.  But  the 
memorial  found  its  way  to  Charles  V. ,  who 
ordered  that  the  grant  of  the  Indian  reser 
vation  be  reconsidered  by  the  united  royal 
councils  assembled  as  a  committee  of  the 
whole.  I  will  let  L,as  Casas  himself  describe 
one  of  their  meetings. 

"There  was  one  meeting,  among  others, 
of  all  the  councillors,  who  had  participated 
in  the  former  ones,  at  which  the  Clerigo 
was  called.  Placed  in  the  midst  of  so  many 
notable,  learned  and  illustrious  personages, 
he  was  surrounded  by  friends  and  enemies. 
The  enemies,  amongst  whom  were  the 
archbishop  and  the  members  of  the  Indian 
council,  feeling  that  they  were  in  a  small 
minority,  listened,  but  spoke  scarcely  a 
word.  The  friends  on  the  contrary,  who 
were  all  the  members  of  the  other  councils, 
either  because  they  wished  to  satisfy  them 
selves  more  fully  that  reason  and  justice 
stood  on  the  side  of  the  Clerigo,  who  was 
their  protegee,  or  because  they  felt  a  certain 
relish  in  goading  him  to  speak  of  the  bad 


Life  oj  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    255 

government,  which  the  archbishop  and  his 
men  had  established  in  the  Indies,  over 
whelmed  him  with  questions  and  objections. 
It  was  amusing  to  see  how  he  gave  to  every 
question  an  answer  and  to  every  objection 
a  solution,  invariably  ending  in  defense  of 
the  Indians  and  in  exposing  the  injustices 
and  wrongs  inflicted  on  them,  the  murders 
of  thousands  of  them,  and  the  many  ob 
stacles  placed  in  the  way  of  their  salvation. 
As  the  bishop  and  his  companions  remained 
dumb,  although  the  philippics  were  ad 
dressed  to  them,  Antonio  de  Fonseca 
ventured  to  say:  " Reverend  Father,  you 
cannot  now  say  that  these  gentlemen  of 
the  Indian  council  are  killing  the  Indians, 
for  you  have  taken  away  from  them  all 
they  had."  The  Clerigo  boldly  and  as 
quick  as  lightning  said  :  "Sir,  their  L,ord- 
ships  have  not  killed  all  the  Indians,  but 
very  many  of  them  when  they  had  them. 
The  butchery  is  carried  on  now  by  private 
Spanish  citizens,  but  their  L,ordships  are 
their  abettors."  The  bishop,  who  felt  in 
sulted,  turned  as  red  as  fire  in  the  face, 
although  he  was  of  a  greenish-dark  com 
plexion,  and  said  angrily:  uHas  it  come 
to  this  that  a  councillor  of  the  king,  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duties,  has  to  quar 
rel  with  Casas?"  But  the  retort  was 


256    Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

again  bold  and  ready.  uHas  it  come  to 
this  that  Casas,  who  through  many  perils 
and  dangers,  travelled  two  thousand  leagues 
to  call  the  attention  of  the  king  and  of 
his  councillors  to  the  fact  that  their 
tyranny  and  their  destroying  so  many 
peoples  and  countries  is  fast  sending  them 
to  hell,  instead  of  being  thanked  for  it, 
and  rewarded,  is  forced  to  quarrel  with 
the  council?" 

The  majority  of  the  assembled  statesmen 
were  astonished  at  the  answer  given  to 
Antonio  Fonseca,  but  the  quick  repartee  to 
his  brother  pleased  them  and  filled  them 
with  admiration  at  the  fearless  freedom  and 
zeal  of  the  doughty  American  priest.  The 
grand  chancellor  gave  a  signal  to  L,as  Casas 
to  withdraw  from  the  assembly  room  and  a 
vote  was  taken.  The  grant  of  two  hundred 
and  sixty  leagues  of  coast  for  an  Indian 
reservation  and  for  a  colony  was  reaffirmed 
and  reconfirmed. 

But  the  undaunted  Clerigo  was  only  at 
the  beginning  of  his  trouble,  the  Fonsecas 
and  the  Indian  councillors  had  left  the  hall 
boiling  with  rage.  In  a  few  days  every 
Spanish-American  then  in  Barcelona,  at 
the  instigation  of  the  enemies  of  L,as  Casas, 
got  together :  and  out  of  the  numerous 
memorials,  petitions  and  remonstrances, 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    257 

that  liad  rained  upon  the  Indian  bureau 
ever  since  the  Clerigo  had  been  an  attendant 
at  court,  they  formulated  against  him 
charges  and  accusations,  which,  together 
with  others  freshly  invented  by  themselves 
during  their  conventicles,  numbered  no  less 
than  thirty. 

4 'The  thirty  articles  against,  the  Clerigo 
should  find  a  place  here  in  order  that  the 
reader  may  understand  the  blindness  of  that 
most  reverend  bishop  and  his  clique.  But, 
as  at  that  time  he  had  no  thought  of  writ 
ing  the  history  of  those  events,  the  manu 
scripts  were  given  to  the  flames  as  soon  as 
he  thought  that  there  would  no  longer  be 
any  need  of  them."  (Historia  De  Las 
Indias.  Ch.  CXI,.  Book  III.) 

He  writes,  however,  from  memory  of 
some  of  the  accusations  and  of  the  answers 
he  gave  to  them. 

The  ist  was  that  L,as  Casas  being  a 
clergyman,  enjoyed  canonical  exemption, 
and  could  therefore  steal-  the  territory  itself 
because  not  amenable  to  any  civil  tribunal. 

The  2nd  that  he  had  given  scandal  in 
Cuba  where  he  had  resided  several  years. 

The  3rd  that  he  would  or  might  ally  him 
self  with  the  Venetians  or  the  Genoese  and 
run  away  to  their  country  with  the  plunder 
he  might  steal  in  the  Indies. 
17 


258    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

The  4th  that  he  had  deceived  cardinal 
Ximenez  and  had  disregarded  his  orders. 

The  3Oth  and  last  was  couched  in  the 
following  words  :  "Many  secret  reasons 
which  we  prefer  to  communicate  to  your 
majesty,  when  it  shall  be  your  pleasure  to 
hear  them.?> 

The  charges  were  calumnies  so  flimsily 
veiled  that  they  contained  in  themselves  as 
good  a  defense  as  the  Clerigo  could  have 
made  of  himself.  Nevertheless  Fonseca 
and  his  partisans  succeeded  to  hold  in  sus 
pense  the  carrying  out  of  the  decrees  for 
the  Indian  reservation  for  several  months. 
Fonseca  caused  another  meeting  of  the 
general  states  council,  to  be  held  when  the 
charges  against  lyas  Casas  were  read  and 
discussed,  in  his  absence.  Cardinal  Adrian, 
on  leaving  the  council  hall,  met  the  Clerigo, 
and  smiling  said:  "Oportet  respondere." 
"You  must  make  an  answer."  The  even 
ing  of  the  same  day  Las  Casas  called  to  see 
the  chancellor  who  made  the  same  recom 
mendation,  and  requested  of  secretary  Cobos 
that  the  documents  containing  the  thirty 
objections  or  accusations  should  be  brought 
to  him.  Cobos,  who  was  a  creature  of 
Fonseca,  at  first  refused  to  comply  with  the 
request,  for  fear  that  the  papers  should  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  Clerigo.  But  the  per- 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    259 

sistent  Gattinara  would,  from  time  to  time, 
renew  trie  request ;  and  Cobos  would  each 
time  put  forward  a  new  pretext  for  not 
obeying.  Two  months  or  more  had  passed 
in  tergiversations,  when  the  chancellor 
peremptorily  commanded  that  the  docu 
ments  be  produced.  The  secretary  obeyed, 
but  under  condition,  that  the  papers  should 
not  pass  into  the  hands  of  anybody  else. 
No  sooner  was  it  done,  than  the  chancellor 
invited  the  Clerigo  to  dinner,  and,  after  the 
meal,  they  closeted  themselves  into  Gatti 
nara 's  private  office,  who,  drawing  forth 
the  coveted  documents,  said  to  Las  Casas  : 
"Sit  down  right  here  and  answer  these 
objections  and  accusations." 

"It  took  them  three  months  to  formulate 
them,  and  it  took  you  two  months  longer 
to  get  them  here,  and  you  want '  me  to 
answer* them  in  a  credo?  (the  space  of 
time  necessary  to  recite  the  Credo,  or 
Apostles  creed.)  Let  me  have  them  for 
five  hours  and  you  will  see  if  I  don't  answer 
them." 

"I  can't  do  that,"  replied  Gattinara  ;" 
"for  I  pledged  my  word  not  to  let  them  go 
out  of  my  possession. ' '  At  this  junction  a 
message  from  the  king  called  the  chancellor 
to  the  royal  palace.  Before  leaving,  how 
ever,  he  said  to  the  Clerigo:  "Remember 


260    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

that  eacli  objection  is  a  question  asked  of 
the  king.  Answer  accordingly.  Come  of 
a  night  and  do  your  writing  in  my  room." 
Five  consecutive  nights  found  the  Clerigo 
and  the  chancellor  hard  at  work  at  the 
same  desk,  the  latter  attending  to  other 
important  state  affairs,  the  former  writing 
his  defense.  At  eleven  o'clock  they  would 
lunch  together,  and  retire.  Las  Casas 
answered  the  first  objection  by  offering  to 
give  bond,  in  the  sum  of  twenty  or  thirty 
thousand  ducats,  that  he  would  appear  be 
fore  the  king  wherever  and  whenever  sum 
moned,  which  effectively  answered  also  the 
third  accusation  that  he  might  run  away  to 
Venice  or  to  Genoa.  The  Marquis  of 
Aguilar  had  proffered  to  become  his  bonds 
man.  The  reader,  no  doubt,  remembers 
how  Las  Casas  before  leaving  Cuba  and 
San  Domingo  the  first  time,  had  taken  care 
to  provide  himself  with  flattering  testi 
monials  from  Governor  Velasquez  and  the 
other  colonial  officers  of  the  king,  of  his 
services  to  the  crown  in  the  pacification  of 
the  islands,  in  ministering  to  the  Spaniards 
and  instructing  the  Indians,  etc.  Those 
testimonials  came  into  service  now  in  effect 
ively  answering  the  second  accusation  that 
he  had  given  scandal  in  Cuba.  The  fourth 
objection  was  answered  equally  as  triumph- 


Life  oj  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    261 

antly  by  producing  the  original  decrees 
given  by  cardinal  Ximenez  constituting  the 
Clerigo  official  adviser  of  the  monks  of  St. 
Jerome,  and  universal  Protector  of  the  In 
dians  with  a  competent  salary.  Instead  of 
disregarding  the  orders  of  the  great  car 
dinal,  L,as  Casas  demonstrated  that  he  had 
endeavored  to  comply  with  the  duties  of  his 
office  and  the  spirit  and  the  letter  of  said 
decrees.  His  conduct  had  not  always 
worked  to  the  advantage  of  certain  royal 
councillors ;  hence  the  complaint.  I/as 
Casas,  it  is  quite  plain,  in  becoming  a 
Clerigo,  had  not  forgotten  that  he  had 
been  a  Licenciado,  or  attorney  at  law. 
His  answers  to  objections  and  accusations 
were  generally  so  shaped  as  to  appear 
more  like  severe  indictments  of  his  enemies 
than  an  apology  for  his  actions.  Thus  he 
managed  to  incorporate  in  his  brief  such 
statistics  as  the  following;  uPedrarias,  the 
creature  and  the  appointee  of  Fonseca,  had 
cost  the  royal  treasury  between  fifty-two 
and  fifty-four  thousand  ducats.  Between 
the  year  1514,  when  he  first  landed  on  the 
Darien  settlement,  and  1519,  he  had  man 
aged  to  rob  the  Indians  of  gold  amounting 
to  the  value  of  over  one  million  ducats,  and 
to  send  to  hell,  without  faith  or  sacraments, 
a  half  a  million  of  souls.  During  all  that 


262    Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

time  not  a  penny  was  paid  into  the  royal 
treasury,  unless  they  were  the  three  thous 
and  ducats  just  brought  over  by  the  first 
bishop  of  that  colony,  Juan  Cabedo.  He 
also  detailed  the  modus  operandi  of  Pedra- 
rias  and  his  associates.  Of  all  the  ill- 
gotten  wealth,  they  set  aside  one  fifth 
for  the  king,  out  of  which  they  drew 
their  salaries,  and  if  a  balance  was  left 
over,  they  kept  it  as  a  reserve  fund  where- 
from  to  draw  their  pay,  should  their 
marauding  expeditions  in  future  fail  to 
bring  in  a  harvest  of  gold. 

It  is  not  surprising  if,  Las  Casas'  de 
fense  being  read  in  open  council  general, 
Fonseca  came  out  of  it  defeated  again 
.and  the  Clerigo  triumphant.  On  leaving 
the  meeting  the  courtier  prelate  unwitting 
ly  remarked,  that  it  must  have  been  the 
royal  preachers  who  wrote  that  brief  for 
Casas.  But  the  chancellor  retorted:  "Do 
you  then  take  my  friend  Bartolome  to  be 
such  an  idiot  as  to  beg  somebody  else  to  de 
fend  him?  In  my  opinion  he  is  well  able 
to  defend  himself  and  to  do  much  more 
than  that." 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Las  Casas'  Famous  Audience  and  Speech  in 
the  Presence  of  Charles  V. 

"PEFORK  accompanying  the  first  Ameri 
can  priest  once  more  to  the  Indies, 
something  must  be  said  of  what  he  called 
UA  terrible  combat  and  the  victory  which 
he  gained  by  the  grace  of  God  and  the 
power  of  truth." 

We  have  seen  how  Juan  Cabedo,  the 
first  bishop  of  the  first  diocese  on  the 
American  continent,  had  returned  from 
Darien,  the  bearer  of  some  cash,  which 
Pedrarias  had  sent  to  the  king.  The 
early  history  of  America  mentions  the 
names  of  numerous  priests  secular  and 
regular,  who  were  not  only  saintly  in 
their  own  lives,  but  endowed  with  burn 
ing  zeal  for  the  conversion  of  the  Indians 
and  the  reformation  of  the  Spaniards' 
morals.  We  have  already  met  with  quite 
a  number  of  such  apostolic  men,  who 
succeeded,  in  the  end  in  catholicizing 
two  thirds  of  the  western  world.  Not 
quite  as  much  can  be  said  of  some  of  the 

(263) 


264    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

earliest  American  bisliops,  who  were  al 
ways  the  appointees,  and  not  unfrequently 
the  creatures  of  the  Spanish  monarchs. 
The  baneful  effects  of  the  Jus  patronatus 
or  royal  placet  in  the  appointment  of 
bishops  were  perhaps  never  so  visible  as 
during  the  one  hundred  years  immediately 
preceding  the  council  of  Trent.  Juan 
Cabedo,  from  a  royal  preacher,  had  been 
presented  by  the  king  and  accepted  by  the 
Pope  as  the  first  continental  American 
bishop.  His  salary  was  drawn  from  the 
doubtful  revenues  accruing  to  the  crown 
from  the  colony  on  the  Gulf  of  Darien. 

Las  Casas  had  now  been  at  court  full 
five  years  engaged  in  obtaining  measures 
and  decrees  to  free  the  Indians  and  thereby 
impoverish  the  Spaniards  in  America.  He 
had  in  consequence  become  the  most  hated 
man  among  the  settlers  of  all  the  different 
colonies  of  Whites,  while  all  the  Indians, 
who  came  in  contact  with  the  Spaniards, 
considered  him  their  friend  and  protector. 

The  Bncomiendas  and  the  mines  of  Cuba 
during  the  years  1518  and  1519,  during 
which  the  memorable  and  interesting 
events  happened  that  I  am  about  to  re 
late,  were  yet  a  source  of  great  revenue 
to  almost  every  Spaniard  on  the  island. 
Bishop  Cabedo  stopped  there  on  his  way 


Ufe  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    265 

from  Darien  to  Spain,  interviewed  gov 
ernor  Velasquez  and,  for  a  consideration, 
engaged  to  use  his  influence  in  having 
the  detested  Clerigo  expelled  from  court. 
Shortly  after  his  arrival  in  Barcelona  he 
was  invited  to  dinner  by  his  old  friend 
and  quondam  fellow-royal  preacher  the 
bishop  of  Badajoz,  who  had  always  proved 
one  of  the  staunchest  friends  and  faithful 
supporters  of  the  Clerigo,  during  all  the 
series  of  negotiations  and  controversies 
with  Fonseca  and  his  councillors.  Cabedo 
just  before  the  dinner  hour  went  to  meet 
the  bishop  of  Badajoz  at  the  royal  palace, 
whence  the  two  prelates  were  to  go,  after 
business  hours,  to  the  latter's  house.  I^as 
Casas  happened  to  see  Cabedo  in  one  of  the 
royal  apartments,  and  approaching  him 
politely  said:  uAs  a  priest  of  the  Indies  I 
feel  it  to  be  my  duty  to  kiss  the  hand  of 
your  lordship  who  is  a  bishop  of  the 
Indies.'*  Cabedo  was  then  in  conversation 
with  one  Samano,  an  employee  of  the  court. 
"Who  is  that  priest?"  said  he  to  him. 
"Senor  Casas,'*  answered  Samano.  Then 
turning  to  the  Clerigo  the  bishop  half 
jocularly  and  half  impertinently  remarked  : 
"Sefior  Casas,  I  have  had  for  quite  a  while 
a  little  sermon  of  mine  prepared  especially 
for  your  benefit."  I^as  Casas  promptly  and 


2,66    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

rather  vexedly  replied  :  "I  have  indeed  for 
quite  a  while  wished  to  hear  your  lordship 
preach,  but  I  must  inform  you  also  that, 
for  quite  a  while,  I  have  had  in  readiness  a 
couple  of  little  sermons,  which,  if  your' 
lordship  should  consent  to  hear  them,  and 
digest  them,  will  do  you  more  good  than 
all  the  gold  you  have  brought  from  the 
Indies."  The  bishop  added  an  insulting 
remark,  to  which  Las  Casas  had  an  appro 
priate  answer  on  his  lips,  when  the  entrance 
of  the  bishop  of  Badajoz  put  a  stop  to  the 
peppery  conversation.  But  it  was  renewed 
two  hours  after.  Las  Casas,  fearing  that 
the  American  -  bishop  might  prejudice 
Badajoz  against  him  made  it  convenient 
to  pay  him  a  visit,  calling  at  his  house  just 
after  dinner,  where  he  found  the  host  and 
Diego  Columbus  engaged  in  a  game  of 
baggamon.  Cabedo  and  some  other  guest, 
who  had  also  been  in  America,  were  carry 
ing  on  a  conversation,  the  subject  of  which 
was,  if  wheat  could  be  grown  in  Hispaniola 
or  not.  One  speaker  affirmed  it  and  the 
other,  the  bishop,  denied  it.  Thereupon 
Las  Casas,  joining  in  the  conversation,  said 
respectfully:  u Beyond  a  doubt,  my  lord, 
I  have  seen  very  good  wheat  grow  in 
Hispaniola.  I  have  some  grains  of  it  with 
me.  Here  they  are."  He  had  gathered 


Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    267 

them  in  the  orchard  of  the  Dominicans  in 
San  Domingo  and  had  kept  them  in  his 
pocket  ever  since.  The  argument  in  re  of 
the  plainspoken  Clerigo  angered  the  bishop, 
who  felt  discomfitted  a  second  time,  and 
haughtily  replied:  "What  do  you  know 
about  it  ?  What  business  have  you  here, 
or  at  court  ? ' ' 

"Is  there  anything  wrong  about  my 
business  at  court?"  mildly  replied  L,as 
Casas.  The  bishop  came  to  it  again : 
"Where  did  you  learn  how  to  transact 
court  business  ?  Where  is  your  science  and 
your  learning  for  such  a  calling  ?n 

Las  Casas:  "My  learning  may  not  be 
greater  than  you  think,  but  I  will  tell  you 
some  of  my  business  at  court.  One  of  them 
is  to  show  that  you  have  failed,  like  a  good 
shepherd,  to  give  your  life  for  your  sheep 
in  order  to  free  them  from  the  hands  of  the 
tyrants,  who  slaughter  them.  Another  is 
to  show  that  you  have  been  feeding  and 
slacking  your  thirst  on  the  blood  of  your 
sheep.  Another  still  is  to  show  that  unless 
you  make  restitution  of  all  you  brought 
from  the  Indies,  you  have  no  more  chance 
of  being  saved  than  Judas  Ischariot." 

The  bishop  feeling  worsted  another  time, 
endeavored  to  turn  the  encounter  into  a 
joke,  and  to  poke  fun  at  his  antagonist,  but 


268    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

the  priest  in  dead  earnest  added  to  liis  other 
cutting  remarks  another.  "You  laugh, 
my  lord,  but  you  should  rather  weep  over 
the  pitiful  condition  of  yourself  and  your 
flock. " 

Cabedo  made  another  effort  to  turn  into 
ridicule  the  Clerigo's  seriousness  and  indig 
nation  by  saying:  "If  you  so  desire  I'll 
draw  a  few  tears  out  of  my  pocket,"  (re 
ferring  to  Las  Casas'  exhibition  of  the 
grains  of  wheat)  "and  I  will  do  a  little 
weeping. ' '  But  quickly  came  the  answer : 
"True  tears  of  repentance,  my  lord,  are  a 
gift  of  God,  and  you  should  earnestly  beg 
Him  to  give  you  tears  of  your  heart's  blood, 
the  better  to  bewail  the  miserable  state  of 
yourself  and  of  your  flock. " 

At  this  junction  admiral  Diego  Columbus 
and  the  bishop  of  Badajoz  arose  from  their 
game,  and  the  latter  turning  to  the  Clerigo 
with  an  expression  on  his  face,  that  spoke 
approval  of  what  he  had  heard,  put  an  end 
to  the  contention  with  a  single  word : 
"enough."  The  bishop  went  back  to  the 
royal  palace  chuckling  over  the  lecture  read 
by  the  Clerigo  to  the  American  prelate ; 
and  Las  Casas  returned  to  his  lodgings, 
thinking  that  he  had  already  fulfilled  his 
promise  of  preaching  to  his  lordship  of 
Darien  a  couple  of  little  sermons.  Cabedo 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    269 

remained  a  while  longer  in  conversation 
with  the  other  guest,  and  admiral  Diego 
Columbus  took  occasion  to  speak  very  favor 
ably  of  his  antagonist,  who,  he  explained, 
had  gained  great  influence  at  court  and  was 
held  in  high  esteem  by  all  of  the  king's 
favorites. 

The  bishop  of  Badajoz  had  no  sooner 
reached  the  apartments  of  Charles  V.  than 
he  detailed  to  him  the  amusing  encounter 
between  the  two  clergymen  from  the  Indies, 
and  recited  almost  verbatim  the  little  sermon 
of  the  priest  to  the  bishop.  By  this  time 
the  youthful  monarch,  whose  judgment 
seemed  to  have  reached  maturity  before  he 
got  out  of  his  teens,  had  reached  the  con 
clusion  that  there  was  something  rotten, 
not  in  Denmark,  but  in  America.  He  de 
cided  to  acquaint  himself  personally  with 
the  state  of  affairs  and  to  learn  how  his 
transatlantic  possessions  were  governed. 
He  knew  already  that  Micer  Bartolome  (the 
name  by  which  L,as  Casas  was  generally 
known  amongst  the  Flemish)  was  a  dis 
interested  priest  and  the  fearless  Protector 
of  the  Indians.  He  wished  it  understood 
that  the  simple  priest  would  be  heard  in 
the  interests  of  justice  as  well  as  the  high 
dignitaries  of  church  and  state.  It  was 
therefore  ordered  that  both  the  priest  and 


270    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

the  bishop  from  the  Indies  should  be  sum 
moned  to  appear  before  him  three  days 
after.  And,  as  Diego  Columbus  was  vitally 
interested,  and  was  supposed  to  be  thor 
oughly  conversant  with  American  affairs, 
he  too  was  called  to  the  royal  presence.  A 
Franciscan  father  had  just  returned  from 
Hispaniola,  and,  having  heard  that  Las 
Casas  was  laboring  to  obtain  the  freedom  of 
the  Indians,  had  gone  to  proffer  his  services 
and  his  help  in  the  good  work.  It  needs 
not  be  said  that  the  priest  and  the  friar  be 
came  fast  friends. 

The  court,  on  account  of  an  epidemic 
that  was  then  raging  in  Barcelona  was 
quartered  in  a  castle  a  few  miles  from  the 
city.  In  the  neighboring  village  there  was 
but  one  church,  where  the  courtiers  were 
compelled  to  attend  divine  service.  Under 
color  of  giving  an  opportunity  to  the  plain 
country  folk  of  hearing  something  about 
far  away  America,  it  was  arranged  that  the 
good  Franciscan  should  occupy  the  pulpit 
on  several  consecutive  days.  The  substance 
of  his  discourses  were  mostly  made  up  of 
descriptions  of  the  cruel  oppression  to 
which  the  Indians  were  subjected.  It 
reached  the  ears  of  Charles  V.  who 
ordered  that  the  friar  be  summoned  also  to 
appear  at  the  solemn  audience  with  bishop 


fe  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    271 

Cabedo,  Diego  Columbus,  and  Las  Casas. 
The  day  and  the  hour  having  arrived,  the 
three  clergymen  and  the  admiral,  viceroy 
of  the  Indies,  were  assembled  in  the  hall  of 
the  castle.  The  emperor  was  then  only 
nineteen  years  of  age,  but  the  famous  Peter 
Martyr  could  already  write  of  him  that  uso 
great  was  his  gravity  as  to  appear  conscioiis 
of  having  at  his  feet  the  universe."  Ac 
companied  by  the  highest  court  officials  he 
entered  the  hall  amidst  profound  silence, 
and  sat  on  his  throne.  On  the  right  of  the 
monarch  were  Monsieur  de  Xevres,  next  to 
him  Diego  Columbus,  next  bishop  Cabedo, 
next  the  Licenciado  Aguirre,  etc.  At  the 
left  sat  the  grand  chancellor,  the  bishop  of 
Badajoz,  etc.,  all  the  assembled  notabilities 
forming  an  eliptical  figure  at  one  end  of 
which  sat  Charles  V.,  and  facing  him 
Las  Casas  and  the  Franciscan  friar. 

The  chancellor  and  de  Xevres  rose  from 
their  seats,  and  facing  jointly  the  emperor, 
bent  their  knees  on  one  of  the  steps  of  -the 
throne,  and  in  that  posture  held,  in  subdued 
tones,  a  brief  consultation  with  Charles, 
and  then  rising  took  their  seats  again.  A 
moment  of  silence,  and  the  chancellor  in 
measured  Latin  words  thus  addressed  the 
American  bishop  :  "Right  reverend  bishop 
his  majesty  commands  that  you  speak,  if 


272    Life  ofBarlolomti  de  Las  Casas. 

you  have  any  information  to  give  about  the 
Indies. ' '  The  bishop  rose  and  in  an  elegant 
preamble  said  that  for  a  long  time  he  had 
desired  to  behold  the  face  of  his  king,  and 
that  now  he  was  happy,  because  he  had 
ascertained  that  fades  Priami  diana  erat 
imperio,  i.  e.  that  the  face  of  the  king  was 
worthy  of  the  empire.  (A  reference  to  a 
passage  in  Homer. )  Then  he  added  that 
he  wished  to  speak  to  the  king  and  his 
councillors  in  private  about  the  information 
he  had  to  give  about  Indian  affairs,  and 
begged  that  all,  who  were  not  members  of 
the  royal  council,  should  be  made  to  with 
draw.  And  he  waited  for  a  signal  from  the 
grand  chancellor  to  sit  down.  A  second 
consultation,  accompanied  by  the  same 
ceremonial,  as  described  above  took  place 
between  the  grand  chancellor  Xevres  and 
Charles  V.  ;  after  which  the  measured 
tones  of  Gattinara  were  heard  again : 
"Right  reverend  bishop,  his  majesty  com 
mands  that  you  speak  even  if  you  have 
anything  secret  to  say." 

The  prelate  assured  the  emperor  again 
that  the  things  he  had  to  communicate 
were  secret,  and  that  it  was  unbecoming 
they  should  be  heard  by  others  than  him 
self  and  his  councillors.  He  added,  that 
his  grey  hairs  and  his  position  would  not 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    273 

permit  Mm  to  engage  in  a  controversy. 
Thereupon  a  third  consultation  took  place 
and  the  chancellor  said  again:  " Right 
reverend  bishop,  his  majesty  commands 
that  you  speak,  if  you  have  any  thing  more 
to  say,  because  everybody  here  present 
was  individually  invited  to  sit  in  this 
council. n 

Then  the  bishop  spoke  as  follows :  "Sire, 
the  Catholic  king,  your  grandfather,  hav 
ing  decided  to  send  an  expedition  to  make 
a  settlement  on  the  mainland  of  the  Indies, 
petitioned  the  Holy  Father  to  make  me  the 
first  bishop  of  that  colony.  The  expedi 
tion  was  very  numerous,  and  as  our  provi 
sions  lasted  no  longer  than  the  voyage,  the 
vast  majority  of  the  people  died  of  hunger. 
To  escape  a  similar  fate,  we,  the  survivors, 
did  nothing  else,  during  the  five  years  I 
spent  in  those  parts,  than  steal,  kill  and 
eat.  As  I  saw  the  country  going  to  ruin, 
and  as  I  knew  that  the  first  colonial  gov 
ernor  had  been  bad,  and  that  the  second 
was  worse,  I  decided  to  come  and  inform 
my  lord  the  king.  As  to  the  Indians  of 
the  country  whence  I  came,  and  those  I  saw 
in  other  lands  on  my  homeward  journey,  I 
say,  that  they  are  servi  a  natura  (natural 
slaves)  etc.n 

Another  consultation  followed  the  speech 
18 


274    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

of  tlie  bisliop  and  then  the  chancellor  said  : 
"Micer  Bartolome,  his  majesty  commands 
that  you  speak."  The  following  is  the 
famous  address  of  the  first  American  priest 
to  Charles  V. 

"Most  powerful  and  most  high  lord  and 
king.  I  am  one  of  the  oldest  immigrants 
to  the  Indies,  where  I  have  spent  many 
years  and  where,  I  have  not  read  in  histo 
ries,  that  sometimes  lie,  but  saw  with  my 
own  eyes,  and,  so  to  speak,  came  in  contact 
with  the  cruelties,  which  have  been  in 
flicted  on  those  peaceful  and  gentle  people, 
cruelties  more  atrocious  and  unnatural  than 
any  recorded  of  untutored  and  savage  bar 
barians.  No  other  reason  can  be  assigned 
for  them  than  the  greed  and  thirst  for  gold 
of  our  countrymen.  They  have  been  prac 
tised  in  two  ways  ;  first,  by  wicked  and  un 
just  wars,  in  which  numberless  Indians, 
who  had  been  living  in  perfect  peace  in 
their  own  homes,  and  without  molesting 
anybody,  were  slaughtered.  Their  coun 
tries,  that  formerly  teemed  with  people  and 
villages  without  number,  have  been  made 
desolate  ;  secondly,  by  enslaving,  after  do 
ing  away  with  their  chiefs  and  rulers,  the 
common  people,,  whom  they  parcelled 
among  themselves  in  Encomiendas  of  fifty 
or  a  hundred,  and  cast  them  into  the  mines, 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    275 

where,  overwhelmed  by  incredible  labors, 
they  all  perish.  In  coming  to  Spain  I  left 
them  behind  to  die  whenever  they  come  in 
contact  with  the  Spaniards.  And,  alas  ! 
one  of  the  originators  of  this  tyranny  was 
my  own  father,  who,  thank  God,  has  not 
now  anything  more  to  do  with  it.  At  the 
sight  of  the  injustices  and  atrocities  inflicted 
upon  a  people,  who  had  never  harmed  us, 
my  heart  was  touched,  not  because  I  was  a 
better  Christian  than  anybody  else,  but 
because  I  am  compassionate  by  nature. 
Hence  I  journeyed  to  these  realms  to  inform 
his  Catholic  majesty,  your  grandfather.  I 
found  him  in  Plasencia,  where  he  kindly 
granted  me  an  audience,  during  which  I 
told  him  the  things  which  I  am  about  to 
detail  to  you.  He  was  then  on  his  way  to 
Seville,  where  he  promised  me  that  meas 
ures  would  be  adopted  to  correct  the  evils. 
But  he  died  on  the  way,  and  my  petition  as 
well  as  his  royal  will  in  behalf  of  the  In 
dians  were  frustrated.  I  next  applied  to 
the  regents,  cardinal  Ximenez  and  his 
eminence  the  cardinal  of  Tortosa.  They 
promptly  enacted  the  necessary  legislation 
to  stop  the  tyranny  and  the  slaughter  of  so 
many  people.  But  the  persons  selected  to 
execute  their  laws,  to  root  out  the  poison 
ous  source  of  so  many  crimes,  and  to  sow 


276  Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

instead  the  good  seed,  were  found  unfit  for 
the  task.  When  I  heard  that  your  majesty 
had  come  to  Spain,  I  hastened  to  renew  my 
representations  to  you,  and  had  not  your 
first  high  chancellor  died  in  Zaragoza,  a 
remedy  would  by  this  time  have  been  found, 
and  applied.  I  am  to  do  the  same  work 
over  again.  But  I  find  that  the  ministers 
of  the  enemy  of  all  good  are  not  wanting 
here  about,  who  endeavor,  through  their 
selfish  interests,  to  block  my  way.  Sire, 
the  spiritual  interests  of  your  soul  excepted, 
nothing  is  of  greater  importance  to  your 
majesty  than  the  finding  of  a  remedy  for 
these  evils.  For  not  one  of  your  European 
kingdoms  or  all  of  them  together  equal  in 
vastness  and  greatness  your  transatlantic 
possessions.  In  telling'you  so,  I  feel  certain 
of  rendering  to  your  majesty  as  great  a 
service,  as  mortal  vassal  has  ever  rendered 
to  his  king.  For  so  doing  I  ask  no  reward 
or  favor,  inasmuch  as  my  first  object  is  not 
to  do  a  service  to  your  majesty.  I  desire  to 
speak  with  all  the  respect  and  reverence 
due  to  as  high  a  personage  as  my  king  your 
majesty.  But,  were  I  not  bound  to  do  so, 
as  liege  to  my  lord,  I  would  not,  forsooth, 
move  to  the  corner  of  this  room  to  do  you 
service,  if  I  did  not  think  and  know  that, 
by  so  doing,  I  would  make  a  pleasing  offer- 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    277 

ing  to  God,  who  is  a  jealous  God,  and  does 
not  share  with  others  the  honors  and  glory 
due  to  Him  by  His  creatures.  For  His  honor 
and  glory  alone,  I  have  undertaken  this 
selfimposed  task.  But  I  know  that  I  can 
not  take  a  step  forward  without  doing,  at 
the  same  time,  an  inestimable  service  to 
your  majesty.  That  the  meaning  of  my 
words  may  not  be  misunderstood,  I  hereby 
renounce  and  decline  any  favor  or  temporal 
reward  that  your  majesty  might  hereafter 
offer  me.  And  should  it  come  to  pass  that 
I,  either  personally  or  through  a  third 
party,  directly  or  indirectly,  should  solicit 
any  favor  or  reward  for  my  services,  I  am 
willing  to  be  branded  as  a  liar  and  a  traitor 
to  my  lord  the  king. 

The  people  of  whom  the  New  World  is 
swarming  are  not  only  capable  of  under 
standing  the  Christian  religion,  but  amen 
able,  by  reason  and  persuasion,  to  the 
practice  of  good  morals  and  the  highest 
virtues.  Nature  made  them  free  and  they 
have  their  kings  or  rulers  to  regulate  their 
political  life.  The  bishop  of  Darien  has 
told  you  that  they  are  servi  a  natura  because 
the  philosopher  (Plato)  said  at  the  begin 
ning  of  his  politicus  that  vigentes  ingenio 
naturaliter  sunt  rector es  et  domini  alionim^ 
whereas  the  deficientes  a  ratione  naturaliter 


278    Life  oj  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

sunt  servi.  Between  the  meaning  attributed 
to  those  words  by  his  lordship  and  that  in 
tended  by  the  philosopher,  there  is  as  much 
difference  as  between  heaven  and  earth. 
But  granting  that  the  bishop  understood 
him  right,  the  philosopher  was  a  pagan, 
who  is  now  burning  in  hell,  and  those  of 
his  doctrines  only  must  be  followed,  which 
do  not  contradict  our  Christian  morals  and 
our  Christian  faith.  Our  holy  religion 
adapts  itself  equally  as  well  to  all  the  na 
tions  of  the  world ;  it  embraces  them  all 
and  deprives  no  human  being  of  his  natural 
liberty  under  pretext  or  color  that  he  or  she 
is  servus  a  natura,  as  the  bishop,  if  I  under 
stood  him  right,  would  have  you  believe. 
Sire,  it  therefore  behooves  your  majesty 
that  you  banish,  at  the  beginniug  of  your 
reign,  that  gigantically  tyrannical  system, 
which,  horrible  alike  in  the  sight  of  God 
and  man,  is  the  ruin  of  the  majority  of 
mankind.  This  do,  in  order  that  Our 
Lord,  who  died  for  those  people,  may  bless 
and  prosper  your  rule  for  many  days  to 
come." 

The  foregoing  must  have  been  only  the 
notes  or  substance  of  the  speech,  for  he  tells 
us  that  his  address  had  engaged  him,  in 
delivering  it,  three  good  quarters  of  an 
hour. 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    279 

The  friar  was  next  invited  to  speak. 
His  remarks  were  few  and  his  arguments 
but  one.  But  he  spoke,  as  it  were,  wofds 
of  fire,  that  caused  some  of  the  bystanders 
to  tremble  and  to  think  that  they  stood 
already  before  the  judgment  seat  of  God. 
He  said  in  substance  : 

"Sire;  I  lived  for  a  few  years  in  the  Island 
of  Hispaniola.  It  once  fell  to  my  lot  to 
travel  with  others  all  over  the  Island  in 
order  to  take  a  census  of  all  the  Indians  in 
habiting  it.  Two  years  later  we  were 
ordered  to  perform  the  same  duty  a  second 
time.  The  two  censuses  disclosed  the  fact 
that  numberless  Indians  had  disappeared 
during  the  two  years.  It  is  thus  that  count 
less  thousands  of  people  on  that  Island  have 
perished.  Now  if  the  blood  of  one  man 
(Abel)  never  ceased  crying  to  God,  until  it 
was  avenged,  what  shall  not  the  blood  of 
the  thousands  do,  who  having  perished  by 
our  tyranny  and  oppression,  now  cry  to 
God  vindica  sanguinem  nostrum  Dens  nos 
ier.  By  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  by 
the  stigmata  of  St.  Francis  I  beg  and  be 
seech  your  majesty  to  put  a  stop  to  that  tor 
rent  of  crime  and  murdering  of  people,  in 
order  that  the  anger  of  God  may  not  fall 
upon  us  all." 

Diego  Columbus  spoke  last.  He  said 
briefly: 


280    Life  ofEartolDm^  de  Las  Casas. 

("Sire;  The  crimes  which  have  been 
and  are  yet  perpetrated  in  the  Indies,  of 
which  these  reverend  fathers  have  spoken, 
are  well  known.  Priests  and  friars,  who 
witnessed  them  preached  against  them, 
and,  as  yon  see,  have  come  here  to  de- 
iionnce  them.  However  much  yonr  majesty 
may  snffer  by  the  destruction  of  those 
people,  I  suffer  more,  because,  even  though 
all  of  your  dominions  beyond  the  seas 
should  be  lost,  you  would  not  cease  to  be  a 
great  lord  and  king ;  whereas  I  would  be 
left  without  possessions  of  any  kind.  Hence 
I  came  to  inform  the  Catholic  king  (may 
he  rest  in  peace)  and  I  am  waiting  on  your 
majesty  now  to  beg  you  to  please  look  into 
this  weighty  affair,  and  find  a  remedy  to 
these  evils. " 

Bishop  Cabedo  asked  to  be  heard  again. 
But  the  chancellor,  after  speaking  to  the 
king,  arose  and  said:  "Right  reverend 
bishop,  his  majesty  commands  that,  if  you 
have  anything  more  to  say,  you  put  it  in 
writing,  and  it  shall  be  read." 

Thus  ended  the  audience.  Its  descrip 
tion  gave  us  a  glimpse  of  the  dignified,  but, 
to  us,  rather  pompous  ceremonial  and 
etiquette  with  which  royalty  was  want  to 
surround  itself  during  the  sixteenth  cen 
tury.  It  is  an  almost  literal  translation  of 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    281 

the  148.  and  149.  chapters  of  vthe  III.  Book 
of  Historia  De  Las  Indias. 

Bishop  Cabedo  was  not,  all  in  all,  a  bad 
man,  although  he  was  not  by  any  means  a 
saint.  His  vanity,  we  have  seen  it,  would 
not  permit  him  to  be  corrected  by  a  simple 
priest.  The  new  surroundings  on  the  con 
tinent  of  America  and  the  daily  scenes  of 
carnage  he  had  been  there  compelled  to 
witness,  bewildered  him,  and  blunted  his 
moral  perception.  Perhaps  for  a  time  he 
allowed  the  crimes  of  the  Spaniards  to  go 
unrebuked.  But  when  aroused  to  a  sense 
of  duty,  he  left  the  new  World  to  seek  a 
remedy  in  the  old.  But  on  the  road,  and 
even  in  Spain  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to 
crush  the  plain  Clerigo  with  the  weight  of 
his  official  position  and  episcopal  character, 
although  the  zealous  priest  was  engaged  in 
doing  the  very  work  he  journeyed  from 
Darien  to  do.  His  was  a  weak  mind  and 
he  was  not  made  to  swim  against  the  cur 
rent.  He  had  been  a  good  friar  and  a  good 
preacher,  but  he  should  never  have  been 
made  a  bishop,  especially  of  a  new  diocese 
on  the  Western  continent.  He  was  good, 
when  in  good  company,  and  almost  wicked 
when  in  the  neighborhood  of  worldlings. 
As  commanded  by  the  king,  he  wrote  two 
memorials.  In  one  he  faithfully  painted 


282    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

the  crimes  of  the  Darien  colony,  and  in  the 
other  suggested  remedies  for  its  reforma 
tion.  He  delivered  them  to  the  high  chan 
cellor  on  a  certain  occasion,  when  he  and 
De  Laxao  had  been  invited  to  dine  with 
him.  The  memorials  were  read  after  the 
meal,  and  in  the  course  of  conversation  the 
two -high  officials  asked  the  bishop  :  "What 
do  you  think  of  the  scheme  of  Micer  Barto- 
lome?"  "Very  favorably  indeed,"  an 
swered  the  prelate,  "he  has  justice  on  his 
side,  and  his  ways  are  the  ways  of  God." 

That  same  evening,  the  Clerigo,  who  had 
an  inkling  of  the  trio's  meeting,  paid  a 
visit  to  the  chancellor  to  see  if  he  could 
smell  what  had  transpired  at  the  interview 
between  the  bishop  and  the  two  officials, 
(para  oler  que  habia  de  la  junta  y  comida 
del  Obispo  con  aquellos  senores  sucedido.) 
He  had  not  been  long  in  his  private  apart 
ments  when,  drawing  the  two  memorials 
the  chancellor  said  :  "Micer  Bartolome,  sit 
down  in  that  yonder  corner  and  read  them. ' ' 

Las  Casas  did  so  attentively  and  then 
called  out:  "will  your  lordship  loan  me  a 
pen?" 

The  chancellor:  "What  for?" 

Las  Casas  :  "I  wish  to  sign  my  name  to 
these  memorials.  Did  I  ever  paint  in 
darker  colors  the  ruins  and  the  massacres 
in  those  countries?" 


Life  ofBartolom£  de  Las  Casas.    283 

The  bishop  had  evidently  opened  his 
eyes,  and  in  Spain  he  looked  at  the  doings 
of  his  countrymen  in  America  in  a  different 
light. 

Three  days  later,  the  first  bishop  of  the 
American  continent  took  sick  of  a  fever  and 
died  humbly  confessing  his  shortcomings 
and  begging  the  blessed  mother  of  Christ 
to  intercede  for  him.  His  death,  L,as  Casas 
remarks,  attracted  a  good  deal  of  attention 
for  having  happened  just  after  his  telling 
the  truth  about  those  evil  things  in  the 
Indies,  which  he  had  almost  approved  by 
contradicting  the  Clerigo,  and  just  after 
having  spoken  favorably  of  him  whom  he 
had  treated  unkindly. 

We  have  arrived  at  the  end  of  the  year 
1519,  and,  although  the  Clerigo's  project 
of  an  Indian  reservation  had  been  passed 
upon  and  approved,  the  formal  agreement 
or  capitulacion,  as  he  called  it,  had  not  yet 
been  signed  by  Charles  V.  Las  Casas 
was  not  however  wedded  to  one  plan  of 
saving  the  American  Indians  from  extermi 
nation.  In  fact  just  after  having  practically 
obtained  his  two  hundred  and  sixty  leagues 
of  coast,  a  vaster  scheme  and  a  better  one, 
he  thought,  presented  itself  to  his  fertile 
mind. 

Diego   Columbus   and   his  half  brother 


284    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

Hernando  were  in  Spain  looking  after  their 
law  suit  with  the  crown  concerning  the 
grants  and  privileges  promised  to  their 
father  before  the  first  voyage  of  discovery. 
Theirs  was  certainly  the  most  important 
litigation  of  ancient  or  modern  times.  The 
main  contention  was  whether  Diego  Colum 
bus  was  entitled  to  the  viceroyalty  of  the 
whole  of  America,  already  explored,  or  to 
be  explored,  and  to  one  eighth  of  all  the 
revenues  accruing  to  the  crown  therefrom, 
or  only  to  the  viceroyalty  of  Hispaniola, 
Cuba,  etc.,  and  that  part  of  the  continent 
discovered  and  explored  personally  by 
Columbus  himself.  Both  Diego  and  Her 
nando  were  humanely  inclined  and  the 
friends  of  I/as  Casas.  As  their  lawsuit  had 
already  lasted  several  years  with  no  im 
mediate  prospect  of  its  being  decided  in 
their  favor,  Las  Casas  proposed  to  Diego  a 
plan,  which  would  practically  afford  him 
as  great,  if  not  greater  benefits  than  the 
viceroyalty,  while  it  would  put  a  stop  to 
the  extermination  of  the  Indians  and  create 
an  opportunity  of  converting  them  and  of 
instructing  them  in  the  Christian  religion. 
"Ask  of  the  king,"  was  the  Clerigo's  advice 
to  Diego,  "the  exclusive  privilege  of  barter 
ing  and  trading  with  the  Indians  of  the  con 
tinent,  binding  yourself,  as  a  quid  pro  quo. 


Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    285 

to  erect  a  fortress  on  every  one  hundred 
leagues  of  coast,  for  a  thousand  leagues, 
and  to  maintain  fifty  men  in  each  one  of 
them  as  a  garrison,  as  well  as  for  the  pur 
pose  of  trading  with  the  Indians  in  a  friendly 
maniier.  Bind  yourself  also  to  keep  two 
or  three  ships,  plying  backward  and  for 
ward,  from  one  fortress  to  the  other,  first  to 
provide  each  station  at  convenient  intervals 
with  stocks  of  goods  or  trifles  to  be  given 
to  the  Indians,  in  exchange  for  their  gold 
and  ether  commodities  of  their  countries ; 
secondly,  to  afford  you  or  your  officers  fre 
quent  opportunities  of  seeing,  if  the  natives 
are  treated  with  justice  and  kindness  by  the 
Spaniards.  All  the  Indians  of  the  coast, 
when  thus  treated  will  become  your  friends, 
and  of  their  own  accord  will  submit  to  the 
sovereignty  of  our  king.  When  the  Riparian 
tribes  shall  have  been  made  your  friends 
and  allies,  they  will  help  you  to  penetrate 
into  and  explore  the  interior  of  the  con 
tinent,  and  to  erect  at  convenient  distances, 
other  fortresses.  With  an  abundant  supply 
of  needles,  buttons,  little  bells,  small  look 
ing  glasses  and  other  trifles,  you  will  soon 
gather  up  all  the  gold  that  many  past  gen 
erations  of  Indians  have  treasured  up. 
After  that,  a  few  novelties  from  Seville  will 
entice  them  to  the  mines  to  gather  more. 


286    Life  oj  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

Wliile  you,  and  your  lay  employees,  will 
perform  these  comedies,  I  and  other  zealous 
priests  and  friars  will  quietly  attend  to  the 
evangelization  of  the  Indians." 

Diego  Columbus  at  first  entered  heart 
and  soul  into  the  plan  suggested  by  the 
Clerigo,  who  offered  to  use  all  his  influence 
to  have  it  accepted  and  approved  by  the 
Flemish  statesmen  and  the  king.  But 
vSpain  was  not  then  worthy  of  being  the 
evangelist  and  savior  of  so  many  people  (it 
is  substantially  the  remark  of  Las  Casas) 
and  the  plan  miscarried.  Hernando  Colum 
bus,  who,  by  his  literary  and  scientific  at 
tainments,  had  made  himself  famous  in 
Spain,  and  well  known  through  Europe, 
exercised  a  controlling  influence  and  as 
cendency  over  his  brother.  He  insisted 
that  Diego,  in  making  the  proposal  to 
Charles  V.  should  ask  as  one  of  the  con 
ditions  that  the  governorship  of  the  con 
tinent  should  be  vested  in  perpetuity  in  him 
self,  his  brother,  and  their  descendants. 
This  was  tantamount  to  a  decision  .of  the 
law  suit  in  their  favor.  Las  Casas  acknow 
ledged  the  justice  of  Diego's  claim,  but 
knew  that  it  would  never  be  granted,  and 
therefore  advised  that  the  governorship  or 
viceroy alty  be  not  mentioned.  Unfortu 
nately  for  the  aboriginal  Americans,  Her- 


Life  ofBartolom£  de  Las  Casas.    287 

nando's  counsel  prevailed.  The  proposal 
was  made  and  rejected. 

An  event  of  considerable  importance 
in  ecclesiastical  history  happened  just  be 
fore  the  articles  of  agreement  between 
Las  Casas  and  Charles  V.  were  signed. 
The  court  was  then  at  Coruna  whence  the 
king  was  about  to  sail  for  Germany,  to  be 
crowned  emperor. 

During  the  seven  days  preceding  the 
departure,  much  business  concerning  the 
Indies  was  transacted.  At  one  of  the 
meetings  of  the  entire  royal  council, 
cardinal  Adrian  (who  became  pope  twenty- 
one  months  after,  i.  e.  January  9,  1522) 
delivered  a  very  solemn  and  learned  oration, 
and  proved  that  the  laws  of  nature  and  of 
God,  as  well  as  the  authority  of  the  holy 
doctors  of  the  church  and  the  civil  and  the 
canon  law  required  that  those  people  (the 
Indians)  should  be  led  to  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  and  to  the  bosom  of  the  church  by 
love,  peaceful  and  evangelical  ways,  ac 
cording  to  the  rules  layed  down  in  the 
gospel  by  Christ  himself,  and  not  by  wars 
and  slavery.  He  thus  condemned  the  con 
duct  of  those  Spaniards,  who  had  settled  in 
those  countries  by  ways  befitting  rather 
Mahomedans  than  Christians.  The  oration 
of  the  holy  cardinal  so  moved  the  audience 


2 88    Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

tliat  all  or  nearly  all  present  subscribed  to  it, 
and  praised  his  truly  catholic  doctrine. 
Not  a  soul  dared  oppose  him  ;  so  that,  there 
and  then,  it  was  determined  that  the  In 
dians,  generally  speaking,  should  be  free, 
and  that  they  should  be  treated  as  free  men. 
It  was  also  finally  decided  that  the  Clerigo 
should  be  charged  with  the  conversion  of 
the  Indians  in  his  reservation,  according  to 
the  method  he  had  proposed. 

The  royal  fleet  had  scarcely  set  sails, 
when  the  Clerigo  went  to  pay  his  respects 
to  Adrian,  in  whose  hands  Charles  V.  had 
left  the  reins  of  government  of  the  Spanish 
kingdom.  He  found  him  in  company  of  a 
certain  lyicenciado  Soza,  a  mutual  friend, 
who  remarked  on  seeing  him:  "Here 
Casas,  come  and  kiss  the  hand  of  his 
eminence.  It  was  he  alone  who  set  free  all 
your  Indians." 

Honesty,  frankness,  boldness,  with  the 
peasant  as  with  cardinals  and  crowned 
heads,  were  the  salient  traits  in  the  first 
American  priest.  Therefore  the  student  of 
his  biography  will  look  in  vain  for  even  an 
unguarded  word  or  action  suggestive  of 
adulation.  He  humbled  himself ,  he  begged 
and  implored  and .  pleaded  with  the  great 
ones  of  the  world  in  behalf  of  his  Indians, 
but  he  never  used  adulation  as  means  to  his 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    289 

end.  His  answer  to  Soza  was  such  as 
might  have  been  expected  of  him.  With 
the  Dutchmen  he  always  spoke  in  Latin, 
and  said.  "Ad  plura  tenetur  Heverendis- 
sima  Dominatio  sua  Deo  et  proximis,  quid 
unicuique  mandavit  Deus  de  proximo  suo." 
As  much  as  to  say  :  His  eminence  has  done 
no  more  than  his  duty.  The  cardinal,  who 
had  learned  to  appreciate  the  uncompromis 
ing  virtue  of  the  Clerigo,  was  pleased  to 
answer  laughing  :  "At  least  you  ought  to 
pray  for  me."  And  Las  Casas,  who  very 
often  managed  to  have  the  last  word, 
wishing  to  show  how  deeply  he  appre 
ciated  the  service  rendered  his  beloved 
Indians,  replied:  "I  have  formed  the  re 
solution  of  remaining  in  the  service  of 
your  eminence  till  death,  inclusive."  The 
prospects  of  American  liberty  were  once 
more  bright  and  promising.  But,  alas ; 
no  sooner  was  the  king  and  his  Flemish 
courtiers  gone,  and  Fonseca  left  at  the 
head  of  Indian  affairs,  than  the  freedom 
of  the  native  Americans  was  forgotten. 
Nothing  came  of  the  resolution  adopted, 
that  they  should  be  treated  as  freemen. 
However,  Las  Casas  gives  the  bishop  of 
Burgos  credit  for  treating  him  thereafter 
"very  well,  thereby  showing  that,  after 
all,  he  was  generous  and  noble  hearted, 
19 


290    Life  ofBariolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

considering  that  the  Clerigo  had  hereto 
fore  given  him  considerable  annoyance." 

The  enemies  of  the  Protector  of  the  In 
dians  played  their  last  card  against  his 
project  of  colonization  and  evangelization 
of  his  protegees  when  they  began  to  ridi 
cule  it.  Certain  exconvicts  of  the  tribunal 
of  the  inquisition  were  made  to  wear  a  pe 
culiar  attire,  with  over  it  certain  badges 
indicative  of  their  condition  of  penitents. 

The  attire,  the  badges,  and  the  ex- 
convicts  themselves  were  known  in  Castile 
as  Sanbenitos.  The  opponents  of  the 
Clerigo  delighted  in  referring  to  his 
knights  of  the  golden  epaulet  as  San 
benitos. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Las  Casas  sails  for  America  to  settle  with 

his  Knights  of  the  Golden  Epaulet, 

on  the  Venezuelan  Coast. 

JTROM  Cortina  governor  Adrian,  Fon- 
seca,  the  royal  councils  and  Las  Ca 
sas  went  to  Valladolid,  where  all  the  neces 
sary  decrees  were  drawn  and  addressed, 
with  commendable  expedition,  to  the  royal 
officers  in  the  Indies  to  enable  the  Pro 
tector  of  the  Indians  to  carry  out  his 
project  of  colonization  and  evangelization. 
With  the  decrees  in  his  pocket,  the  Clerigo 
went  to  Seville,  gathering  on  the  way  a 
number  of  emigrants  from  the  agricultural 
classes  sufficient  to  make  the  beginning 
of  the  settlement  on  the  American  con 
tinent.  The  knights  of  the  golden  epau 
let,  the  reader  must  remember,  were  to 
be  selected  from  among  the  Spanish  sett 
lers  on  the  West  Indian  Islands.  In  his 
native  city  Las  Casas  was  compelled  to 
borrow  considerable  sums,  perhaps  from 
his  relations  and  friends,  to  pay  for  his 
own  and  the  emigrants'  passage.  For 
his  two  trips  to  and  from  America  and 
(291) 


292    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

his  residence  at  court  for  several  years 
had  left  him  penniless.  Charitable  people 
of  wealthy  Seville  provided  him  with  an 
abundance  of  toys  and  trifles  to  be  given  as 
presents  to  the  Indians  to  make  them 
approachable  and  friendly. 

On  the  25th  of  November,  1520,  L,as 
Casas  sailed  for  his  adopted  country  full  of 
buoyant  hopes,  but  not  without  some  mis 
givings  that  his  countrymen,  the  Spanish- 
Americans,  might  once  more  block  his  way 
to  his  freeing  and  evangelizing,  some  at 
least,  of  the  Indians.  While  the  Clerigo 
crosses  the  Atlantic,  for  the  fifth  time,  I  in 
vite  the  reader  to  witness  the  tragedies  that 
are  meanwhile  enacted  on  his  Indian  reser 
vation. 

"Un  pecador  de  hom'bre  (the  scoundrel 
of  a  fellow)  by  the  name  of  Alonso  de 
Ojeda,  who  had  settled  on  the  island  of 
Cubagua,  where  the  pearl  fisheries  were 
located,  wished  to  procure  for  himself 
some  slaves,  as  others  had  done  before 
him,  to  employ  them  to  dive  for  pearls. 
With  some  other  worthies  like  himself 
he  undertook  a  pilgrimage  down  the 
coast,  to  look  for  Cannibals!  to  enslave 
them  by  peaceful  ways,  if  possible,  but 
sword  in  hand  if  necessary.  With  the 
connivance,  and  perhaps  authorized  by 


Life  oj-  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    293 

the  alcalde  of  tlie  island,  tliey  boarded 
a  small  boat,  that  had  been  used  in  the 
fisheries,  and  made  for  the  little  bay  of 
Chiribichi,  situated  some  twenty  miles 
south,  which  the  Dominicans  had  named 
Santa  Fd  de  CMribichi,  where  their  convent 
was  located.  There  were  then  in  the 
house  only  two  of  those  servants  of  God, 
a  priest  and  a  lay  brother,  as  the  others 
had  gone  to  Cubagua  to  preach  a  mission 
to  the  Spaniards,  who  needed  it  as  much 
as  the  Indians.  The  marauders  jumped 
on  shore  with  as  little  fear,  as  if  they 
were  entering  their  own  houses,  because 
the  Friars  had  been  living  in  that  neigh 
borhood  five  years,  and  the  example  of 
their  holy  lives  had  made  the  inhabitants 
of  the  surrounding  country  so  gentle  and 
tractable,  that  a  Spaniard  could,  with 
perfect  safety,  travel  alone  twelve  or 
fifteen  miles  in  the  interior  loaded  with 
Castilian  trinkets,  and  return  with  the 
wealth  of  the  country  in  his  possession. 
Ojeda  and  his  companions  made  straight 
for  the  convent,  where  the  Friars  re 
ceived  them  with  great  rejoicing;  first 
out  of  kindness  and  hospitality,  and 
secondly  because,  accustomed  as  they 
were  to  live  with  only  Indians  as  their 
neighbors,  they  were  always  glad  to  meet 


294    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

witli  some  of  their  countrymen.  A  lunch 
was  served  and  a  pleasant  chat  was  in 
progress,  when  Ojeda,  rather  abruptly, 
asked  to  see  the  chief  or  cacique  of  the 
Pueblo.  His  name  was  Maraguay,  a  brave, 
shrewd  and  reflecting  man.  He  had  not 
always  been  pleased  with  the  conduct  of 
the  Spaniards,  but,  having  in  his  power, 
as  hostages,  the  inoffensive  friars,  he  fre 
quently  closed  an  eye  and  pretented  not  to 
see  certain  illdoings  of  his  bearded  neigh 
bors.  The  Pueblo  was  separated  from  the 
convent  by  a  creek  or  bayou.  Maraguay, 
having  been  sent  for  by  either  the  friar  or 
Ojeda  himself,  promptly  put  in  an  appear 
ance.  The  captain  and  two  of  his  under 
lings  took  the  cacique  aside,  and,  as  he 
called  for  writing  materials,  the  Father  in 
charge  of  the  convent  brought  them  to  him, 
not  in  the  least  suspecting,  that,  in  so  doing, 
he  would  hereafter  arouse  the  suspicions  of 
the  chief.  Then  Ojeda  asked  the  Indian  if 
it  was  true  that  in  the  interior,  back  of  the 
Pueblo,  there  were  some  caribs  or  canni 
bals.  The  cacique  who  knew  full  well 
what  the  consequences  would  have  been, 
had  his  answer  been  in  the  affirmative, 
surmising  the  truth,  that  the  visit  of  Ojeda 
and  his  companions  was  for  the  purpose  of 
looking  for  a  pretext  for  attacking  him  or 


Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    295 

his  neighbors  andkinfolks,  answered  fierce 
ly,  "that  there  were  no  cannibals  there 
about/'  and  then  arose  to  depart.  They 
tried  to  placate  him,  but  the  Indian  nursed 
thereafter  his  indignation  and  anger. 

The  marauders  proceeded  ten  or  twelve 
miles  farther  down  the  coast  to  Maracapan, 
an  Indian  village  over  which  ruled  a  chief, 
who,  some  time  before,  had  paid  a  visit  to 
Hispaniola,  where  he  was  entertained  by  a 
Gil  Gonzales,  whose  name  he  adopted  in 
sign  of  appreciation  of  the  hospitality  re 
ceived.  He  was  as  wise  as  Maraguay  and 
had  not  always  admired  the  ways  of  his 
white  neighbors  of  Cubagua.  Nevertheless 
he  found  it  convenient  to  treat  very  hospit 
ably  the  Spaniards,  who  would  chance  to 
land  on  his  dominions.  Neither  did  he  fail 
to  entertain  Ojeda  and  his  companions. 
The  captain  told  Gil  Gonzales  that  his-bus- 
iness  at  Maracapan  was  to  buy  of  some 
native  farmers  living  a  few  miles  in  the  in 
terior,  a  considerable  quantity  of  corn  or 
maiz.  In  fact  he  and  most  of  his  men  pro 
ceeded  to  the  country  and  readily  agreed 
with  some  of  the  inhabitants  on  the  price 
of  fifty  sacks  of  the  grain  and  on  the  com 
pensation  to  be  given  to  fifty  men  for 
carrying  it  to  Maracapan.  Evidently  the 
carriers  suspected  no  treachery,  and  on 


296    Life  ofBartolom£  de  Las  Casas. 

their  arrival  at  trie  Pueblo  threw  down 
their  loads  at  a  certain  spot  indicated  by 
the  Spaniards  and  sat  upon  them  waiting 
to  receive  their  pay.  But  of  a  sudden 
they  found  themselves  surrounded  by  the 
Christians,  who  held  drawn  swords  in 
their  hands.  Of  those  who  endeavored 
to  flee  some  were  wounded,  some  killed, 
and  thirty-five  of  them,  rather  than  be  cut 
to  pieces,  allowed  themselves  to  be  brought 
on  board  the  ship.  The  news  of  the 
capture  spread  with  incredible  rapidity 
for  hundreds  of  miles  around,  and,  at  a 
meeting  of  the  neighboring  caciques,  it 
was  decided  that,  not  only  Ojeda  and  his 
companions,  but  the  friars  also,  who  always 
sheltered  and  treated  as  brothers  those 
wicked  countrymen  of  theirs,  should  be 
put  to  death.  They  suspected  besides  that 
the  paper  given  by  the  priest  to  Ojeda 
at  Chiribichi  must  have  had  something 
to  do  with  the  dastardly  treachery,  they 
had  witnessed.  Strange  to  say,  Ojeda  did 
not  set  sail  at  once.  Perhaps  he  thought 
that  Gil  Gonzales  would  side  with  him 
rather  than  with  the  Indians  of  the  in 
terior,  and  his  conduct,  on  the  following 
Sunday,  cannot  be  explained  otherwise. 
The  Indians  had  noticed  that  on  that  day 
of  the  week  the  white  men  did  not  work 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Gasas.    297 

but  rested  and  amused  themselves.  Hence 
no  outward  sign  of  warlike  preparations 
was  given  in  the  neighborhood  during 
the  week,  but  when  Sunday  came,  and 
Ojeda  and  a  majority  of  his  followers 
went  ashore  for  a  walk,  they  were  sur 
prised  while  crossing  the  streets  of  the 
Pueblo,  and  perished,  captain  and  all,  at 
the  hands  of  the  Maracapans.  The  In 
dians  even  tried  to  capture  the  vessel, 
but  failed.  The  two  friars  of  Chiribichi 
were  allowed  to  live  for  a  week  longer. 
But  the  following  Sunday  the  lay  brother 
was  called,  by  the  ringing  of  the  monastery 
bell,  to  the  door,  where  he  was  felled  and 
killed,  and  the  priest,  who  had  already 
vested  for  Mass  had  his  head  split  in  two 
by  an  ax.  The  convent  was  fired  and  the 
horse,  which  had  for  the  past  five  years 
been  used  in  tilling  the  land,  was  also 
killed. 

Las  Casas  landed  safely  in  Porto  Rico 
November  nth,  1520.  There  he  heard  the 
harrowing  tale  of  the  massacre  of  the  Do 
minicans.  Their  mission  was  situated 
within  the  boundaries  of  his  reservation. 
There  a  convent  had  already  been  built, 
quite  a  number  of  acres  were  in  cultivation, 
and  a  beautiful  orchard  had  been  planted, 
the  trees  of  which  were  just  beginning  to 


298    Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

bear.  Naturally  the  Clerigo  had  built  great 
hopes  on  the  Dominicans  of  Chiribichi.  In 
fact  the  half  Christian  Pueblo,  with  its 
goodly  number  of  converts  and  catechu 
mens,  would  have  proved,  from  the  begin 
ning,  a  powerful  lever  in  his  gigantic  un 
dertaking.  He  did  not  however  loose  heart , 
and  it  being  known  in  Porto  Rico  that  an 
expedition  was  being  fitted  out  in  San 
Domingo  for  the  purpose  of  avenging  the 
death  of  the  Dominicans  by  fire  and  sword, 
he  resolved  to  wait  and  try  to  stop  it  on  its 
way  to  the  continent.  A  difficult  task,  as 
the  Spaniards  coveted  nothing  more  than  a 
reason  or  a  pretext  for  war,  in  order  to  load 
their  ships  with  prisoners  to  be  captured 
and  held  as  legal  slaves,  who  could  be  dis 
posed  of  on  the  public  market.  The  flotilla 
arrived  in  Porto  Rico  in  a  few  days  in  com 
mand  of  Gonzalo  de  Ocampo.  L,as  Casas 
produced  the  royal  decrees  granting  to  him 
the  exclusive  jurisdiction  on  that  part  of  the 
continent,  and  forbidding  any  body  else 
from  landing  on  those  shores.  He  argued 
that  therefore  he  alone  had  power  to  punish 
the  slayers  of  the  friars.  Ocampo  answered 
that  his  business  and  his  duty,  as  captain 
of  that  expedition,  was  simply  to  obey  the 
orders  of  his  immediate  superior  officers, 
the  royal  Audiencia  of  San  Domingo,  pro- 


Lije  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    299 

testing  however  the  greatest  reverence  for 
the  documents  carried  by  the  Clerigo. 
Ocampo  proceeded  to  the  pearl  coast  to 
make  slaves,  and  L,as  Casas  to  San  Do- 
miiigo,  to  free  those,  who  had  been  previ 
ously  enslaved  and  stolen  from  that  same 
coast  and  were  now  held  in  bondage  on  the 
Island. 

The  decrees  granting  to  Las  Casas  an 
almost  unlimited  territory,  rich  in  gold  and 
other  precious  metals,  had  a  good  com 
mercial  value,  and  he  had  no  trouble  to 
borrow  money  in  Porto  Rico.  With  five 
hundred  dollars  in  gold  he  bought  a  vessel, 
on  which  he  made  his  passage  to  San  Do 
mingo  in  Hispaniola,  and  which  he  intended 
to  use  later  in  the  service  of  his  missions. 
The  laborers  were  left  behind  in  batches 
of  four  and  five  and  were  intrusted  to  the 
care  of  the  planters  on  the  Island. 

In  the  colonial  capital  L,as  Casas  did  not 
receive  much  of  a  welcome,  as  he  was  held 
by  nearly  all  the  white  settlers  as  their 
greatest  enemy.  In  good  time  he  presented 
his  decrees  to  Diego  Columbus,  who  had 
returned  to  America,  and  to  the  royal  Audi- 
encia.  The  documents  were  published  with 
due  solemnity,  with  trumpets  sounding, 
and  in  the  presence  of  the  assembled  citi 
zens.  The  Clerigo  did  not  fail  to  summon 


300    Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

the  authorities  of  San  Domingo  to  recall, 
as  soon  as  possible,  the  flotilla  that  had 
been  sent,  in  charge  of  Ocampo,  to  punish 
the  people  of  Maracapan  and  Chiribichi 
alleging  that  the  killing  of  the  Dominicans 
was  justified  by  the  insolence  and  the  crimes 
of  Ojeda,  and  that,  if  any  punishment  was 
to  be  inflicted,  not  they,  but  he  alone  was 
competent  to  apply  it  in  virtue  of  the  royal 
decrees  that  gave  him  exclusive  jurisdiction 
over  the  territory.  "We  will  look  into  the 
matter,"  replied  the  judges:  and  quite  a 
number  of  days  were  spent  in  parleying,  in 
order  to  give  time  to  Ocampo  to  do  his 
work. 

A  calker  from  Biscay  had  settled  in  San 
Domingo  and  was  doing  a  good  business  in 
the  exercise  of  his  trade.  By  in  vest  ing  his 
savings  in  stock  companies,  whose  main 
business  was  to  kidnap  Indians  in  order  to 
sell  them  as  slaves,  he  had  accumulated 
quite  a  little  competence,  and  was  now  the 
owner  of  two  ships  of  his  own.  When  he 
heard  of  L,as  Casas,  and  of  his  intention  to 
free  all  the  Indians,  thereby  making  his 
occupation  unprofitable,  "No  lepeso  menos 
quesi  viera  al  diablo,"  i.  e.  it  pleased  him 
about  as  much  as  if  he  had  seen  the  devil. 
The  calker  and  other  interested  parties  be 
gan  to  whisper  it  around  that  the  Clerigo's 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    301 

vessel  was  unseaworthy  and  beyond  repair. 
The  Audiencia  promptly  appointed  a  com 
mittee  of  experts,  the  chairman  of  which, 
of  course,  was  the  calker  himself,  to  ex 
amine  the  craft.  It  was  condemned,  for 
the  purpose,  L,as  Casas  thought,  of  blocking 
his  enterprise.  Not  only  he  lost  the  five 
hundred  dollars  in  gold,  but  found  himself 
unable  to  proceed  to  his  destination.  The 
fifty  well-to-do  settlers  destined  to  become 
white  knights  of  the  golden  epaulets  were 
yet  to  be  found. 

Meanwhile  shiploads  of  Indians  began  to 
arrive  in  San  Domingo  from  the  pearl 
coast,  and  were  being  sold  under  the  very 
nose  of  the  Protector  of  the  Indians.  The 
poor  priest  frothed,  wept,  threatened  the 
authorities,  who  listened  impassively. 
These  however  feared  that  he  might  do 
them  serious  damage,  as  the  Clerigo  was 
known  to  be  a  determined  man,  who  had 
never  failed  to  obtain  from  the  king  what 
he  asked  for,  while  they,  having  no  com 
mission  to  do  so,  had  undertaken  that  war 
of  extermination  at  the  expense  of  the 
crown.  The  wiley  judges  of  the  Audiencia 
knew  also  full  well  that  the  grant  which 
the  priest  carried  in  his  wallet,  while  it 
threatened  to  destroy  their  principal  source 
of  income,  the  kidnapping  of  Indians,  was 


302    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

in  itself  a  very  valuable  one.  In  fact  his 
Indian  reservation,  besides  the  pearl  fish 
eries,  which  paid  them  very  fat  dividends, 
was  known  to  have  within  its  boundaries 
numerous  gold  mines.  They  decided  there 
fore  to  take  advantage  of  his  embarrassing 
position,  and  by  apparently  coming  to  terms 
with  him,  endeavor  to  appropriate  to  them 
selves  a  controlling  interest  in  his  enter 
prise.  All  the  high  functionaries  of  the 
crown  in  the  Island  agreed  to  propose  to 
him  a  plan  that  would  enable  him  to  carry 
out  his  scheme  of  colonization.  A  stock 
company  was  to  be  formed  and  the  stock 
was  to  consist  of  twenty-four  shares,  six  of 
which  were  to  become  the  property  of  the 
king,  to  compensate  him  for  the  expenses 
of  fitting  out  the  expeditionary  flotilla  ;  six 
were  to  go  to  the  Clerigo  and  to  his  fifty 
knights  of  the  golden  epaulet,  three  to 
viceroy  Diego  Columbus,  one  of  each  to  the 
four  judges,  one  to  the  royal  treasurer,  one 
to  the  general  auditor,  one  to  the  general 
agent,  and  one  to  each  of  the  two  secretaries 
of  the  Audiencia.  The  flotilla  in  charge  of 
Ocampo  was  to  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
Las  Casas,  but  only  one  hundred  and 
twenty  men,  who  were  all  to  work  for  a 
salary,  were  to  be  left  to  man  the  vessels, 
while  the  remaining  one  hundred  and  eighty 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    303 

were  to  be  discharged.  When  the  plan 
was  presented  to  him,  the  Clerigo,  promptly 
accepted  it,  and  thus  rendered  himself  liable 
to  serious  criticism.  It  seems  in  fact 
difficult  to  understand  why  he  should  have 
associated  himself  with  men  who  were 
actuated  by  exclusively  worldly  interests  in 
a  scheme,  the  sole  purpose  of  which  was  the 
salvation  and  evangelization  of  the  Indians. 
True,  he  alone  was  charged  in  the  royal  de 
crees  with  their  execution,  and  he  alone 
was  to  remain  at  the  head  of  affairs.  Never 
theless  he  ought  to  have  foreseen  that  men, 
who  put  their  cash  in  the  enterprise,  might 
be  expected  to  claim  a  right  to  interfere  in 
the  management  of  the  company's  business. 
However  the  strictest  moralist  will  scarcely 
find  anything  radically  wrong  in  the  accept 
ance  of  the  assistance  (they  called  it  with 
that  name)  proffered  by  the  crafty  politici 
ans.  Writing  forty  years  after,  the  Pro 
tector  of  the  Indians  assigns  the  following 
reason  for  his  action.  '  'Seeing  that,  for 
the  present,  there  was  no  other  remedy  and 
that  there  was  no  prospect  of  his  being  able 
to  work  out  his  scheme  without  their  assist 
ance  and  cooperation  and  seeing  also  that 
meanwhile  the  land  was  being  made  desolate 
and  its  inhabitants  enslaved,  the  Clerigo 
made  answer  that  he  wished  to  see  the  com 
pany  organized. " 


304    Life  ofBarlolomd  de  Las  Oasas. 

He  must  however  have  signed  the  articles 
of  agreement  (capitulacion)  with  some  mis 
givings,  for  he  says  that  the  document  was 
not  unlike  certain  superstitious  invocations, 
that  begin  with  God,  and  end  with  the 
devil.  Under  duress  he  signed  a  document 
containing  some  clauses,  which  he  did  not 
approve  and  which  (he  says  so  himself)  he 
never  had  the  slightest  idea  of  observing. 
For  so  doing,  history  will  ever  condemn  the 
first  American  priest.  If  we  suppose  that 
another  clause  recited  or  implied  that  noth 
ing  in  the  agreement  should  be  understood 
as  binding  him  to  do  anything  against  the 
laws  of  God,  as  was  probably  the  case,  it 
would  yet  be  true  that  this  action  of  his 
was  not  in  keeping  with  the  man's  general 
character,  although  it  would  acquit  him  of 
any  moral  wrong.  My  opinion  is,  that,  in 
this  instance,  he  stretched  somewhat  his 
conscience  in  striking  a  bargain,  whereby 
to  buy  Christ,  whom  he  saw  daily  crucified 
in  his  Indians.  Writing  in  decrepid  old 
age  he  lays  a  good  portion  of  the  blame  at 
the  door  of  the  colonial  officers  in  the  follow 
ing  lines. 

4 'Great  was  indeed  the  blindness  and 
ignorance,  if  it  was  not  malice,  of  those 
gentlemen,  in  believing  that  the  absurd  and 
horrible  conditions  would  be  complied  with 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    305 

by  the  Clerigo,  whom  they  held  as  a  good 
and  disinterested  Christian,  and  who  was 
ready  to  die  in  order  to  free  the  Indians 
and  help  saving  them.  As  to  the  Clerigo, 
he  accepted  them  to  extricate  himself  from 
his  vexatious  position  (por  redimir  su  veja- 
cion)  fully  determined  to  carefully  look  after 
their  interests  in  every  way  not  sinful  or 
prejudicial  to  the  Indians,  or  incompatible 
with  the  main  object  of  his  mission  as  given 
to  him  by  the  king.  He  intended  to  allow 
the  bartering  of  European  trinkets  for  gold 
all  along  the  coast,  to  endeavor,  by  winning 
ways  and  by  presents,  to  induce  the  Indians 
to  fish  for  pearls  on  the  little  Island,  and  to 
utilize,  for  their  benefit,  any  other  honest 
source  of  wealth  that  the  land  might  afford. 
Thus  the  returns  for  their  investments 
would  not  have  been  by  any  means  little. 
But  they  were  satisfied  with  nothing  less 
than  to  see  their  houses,  plantations  and 
mines  filled  with  Indian  slaves,  than  which, 
nothing  was  further  in  the  Clerigo' s  mind. ' ' 
We  shall  see  however,  that  he  did  not  shirk 
his  share  of  responsibility,  and  that  having 
discovered,  at  a  later  period,  his  error,  he 
bewailed  it  bitterly. 

The  company  provided  Las  Casas  with 
two  good  vessels,   and  loaded   them  with 
wine,   oil,  vinegar,  cheese,   and  all  other 
20 


306    Life  ofBariolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

provisions,  as  well  as  witli  tlie  munitions 
necessary  to  the  little  fortress,  which  he  in 
tended  to  bnild  011  the  first  settlement  to  be 
made.  He  sailed  from  San  Domingo  in 
July  1521,  and  after  touching  at  the  island 
of  L,a  Mona,  where  he  loaded  a  large 
amount  of  cazabe  bread,  made  for  Porto 
Rico,  to  pick  up  the  emigrant  laborers  he 
had  left  there,  on  his  way  from  Spain. 
But,  lo  and  behold !  they  •  had  all  dis 
appeared,  and  had  joined  certain  expedi 
tions  gotten  up  for  the  purpose  of  kidnapp 
ing  Indians  in  the  islands  and  on  the  con 
tinent.  He  could  do  no  better  than  pro 
ceed  without  them  to  his  destination.  Sail, 
sail  away,  nothing  daunted,  thou  hero  of 
the  gospel,  while  I'll  tell  of  the  work  of 
thine  enemies  to  block  thy  way. 

Ocampo  had  arrived  in  time  at  the  little 
port  of  Maracapan.  Chief  Gil  Gonzales  at 
the  sight  of  the  flotilla  went  out  in  his 
canoe  to  see  what  was  wanted,  but,  fearing 
the  vengeance  of  the  white  men,  kept  at 
first  at  quite  a  distance.  There  appeared 
on  board  the  flag-ship  but  three  or  four 
men,  who,  by  signs  and  gesticulations, 
pretended  to  desire  only  some  information 
about  that  country,  its  name  etc.  Ocampo's 
ruse  consisted  in  creating  the  impression, 
that  his  company  had  come  direct  from 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    307 

Spain,  and  not  from  treacherous  Ojecla's 
country.  Five  years  residence  by  the  side 
of  the  Dominicans  had  taught  Gonzales 
some  Spanish,  and  drawing  near  Ocampo, 
he  gave  the  desired  information  in  broken 
Castilian.  The  sight  of  wine  and  wheat- 
bread  had  enticed  the  Indian  alongside  the 
ship,  when  one  of  the  sailors,  an  expert 
swimmer,  darted  from  under  cover,  sprang 
into  the  canoe,  grappled  with  Gonzales  and 
stabbed  him  to  death. 

Then  the  three  hundred  Spaniards  landed, 
and  with  those  of  the  Pueblo,  whom  they 
did  not  massacre,  filled  the  ship  and  sent 
them  to  Hispaniola.  Las  Casas  saw  them 
sold  in  San  Domingo,  whither  he  had  gone 
to  free  those  of  their  countrymen,  who  had 
met  a  similar  fate  before.  It  would  not 
have  been  prudent  to  attempt  a  settlement 
at  Paramana  or  Chiribichi  and  the  Clerigo 
landed  four  miles  further  south,  at  Cumana, 
where  the  French  Franciscans  had  founded 
a  convent  at  the  same  time  that  the  Do 
minicans  had  established  theirs  at  Chiri 
bichi.  The  members  of  the  community 
had  heard  from  Ocampo  of  the  grant  of  that 
country  to  the  Clerigo,  and,  when  they  saw 
him  landing,  went  to  meet  him  singing  the 
Te  Deum  and  the  antiphon  Benedictus  qui 
venit  in  nomine  Domini.  I  leave  it  to  the 


308    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

reader  to  imagine  tlie  rejoicing  at  the  meet 
ing  of  the  good  friars  with  the  devoted 
secular  priest.  The  latter  admired  the  ex 
tensive  orchard  with  its  oranges  and  other 
luscious  fruit.  The  convent  stood  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Cumana,  a  few  hundred 
yards  from  the  seashore. 

Ocampo  was  found  busy  with  some  of  his 
followers  (the  others  were  engaged  in  pil 
laging  the  country  around,  and  in  making 
slaves)  building  a  town,  which  he  had 
called  New  Toledo,  a  mile  or  so  further  up 
the  river.  The  occurrences  of  Paramana 
were  well  known  to  the  Indians  for  hundreds 
of  miles  around,  who,  frightened  by  the 
presence  of  the  marauders,  had  left  the 
neighborhood.  The  scarcity  of  provisions, 
the  monotony  of  their  occupation  of  slaught 
ering  or  enslaving  Indians,  and  the  hard 
labor  required  of  them  to  build  Toledo 
had  so  dissatisfied  the  men  under  Ocampo, 
that  threats  of  mutiny  were  heard  on  all 
sides,  and,  as  Las  Casas  put  it,  even  if 
Toledo  had  been  called  Seville,  they  would 
never  have  consented  to  make  it  their  home. 
The  news  therefore  that  the  country  was  to 
be  turned  over  to  the  Clerigo,  and  that 
whosoever  desired  to  return  to  Hispaniola, 
might  do  so,  was  welcomed.  With  sufficient 
provisions,  given  them  by  Las  Casas,  they 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    309 

sailed  for  San  Domingo,  and  only  a  few 
of  them  remained  as  a  sort  of  body  guard 
in  his  excursions  through  the  country,  a 
few  servants,  who  probably  had  followed 
him  from  Spain,  and  the  crews  of  the  two 
vessels  on  which  he  had  come  to  Cumana, 
took  the  place  of  the  knights  of  the  golden 
epaulets,  and  were  to  be  the  only  helpers  of 
the  Clerigo  in  the  work  of  civilizing  the  in 
habitants  of  a  territory  that  proved  to  be 
seven  hundred  miles  wide  and  between 
three  and  four  thousand  miles  long.  His 
first  occupation  was  to  build  a  large  ware 
house  or  shed,  in  which  to  store  his  pro 
visions.  By  means  of  an  Indian  convert, 
whom  the  friars  had  named  Mary,  he  next 
went  about  reassuring  the  natives,  by  tel 
ling  them  that  the  king  of  the  Christians 
had  sent  him  as  an  ambassador  to  inform 
them,  that  they,  at  last,  would  have 
nothing  more  to  fear  from  the  white  men . 
He  distributed  little  presents,  carefully 
watching  at  the  same  time,  that  his  own 
men  should  not  give  occasion  to  the  least 
scandal.  The  history  of  nearly  all  the 
missions  among  the  heathen,  undertaken 
by  the  Catholic  church  in  the  last  several 
centuries,  tell  the  same  tale.  The  greatest 
impediment  to  their  success  is  the  bad 
example  of  the  Christian  layman.  The  re- 


310    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

fuse  of  Christian  communities  are  fre 
quently  found  side  by  side  with  the 
apostles  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization, 
the  latter  to  extend  its  limits,  the  former 
to  retard  it.  We  have  seen  the  work  of 
the  Spaniards  of  Cubagua  at  Maracapan, 
headed  by  Alonzo  de  Ojeda.  The  Fran 
ciscan  convent  was  nearer  to  Cubagua 
than  Maracapan ;  and,  as  the  island 
afforded  no  potable  water,  the  pearl  fisher 
men  were  in  the  habit  of  coming  frequently 
to  fetch  it  in  barrels  from  the  river  Cumana. 
From  these  almost  daily  visits  arose  scan 
dals  without  number.  Now  it  would  be  a 
Spaniard  insulting  an  Indian  woman,  next 
day  a  young  man  bartering  his  liberty,  for 
months  at  a  time,  for  a  bottle  of  Castiliaii 
wine,  and  again  drunken  brawls  among 
the  Indians  themselves,  or  between  white 
and  red  men,  the  effects  of  trading  gold  for 
the  coveted  red  liquor. 

L,as  Casas  had  promised  to  build  some 
fortresses  on  the  different  settlements  con 
templated,  and  he  concluded  that  the  mouth 
of  the  Cumana  river  afforded  a  desirable 
location  for  the  first  one.  It  would  answer 
the  purpose,  not  only  of  protecting  the  con 
vent  against  any  possible  insurrection  of 
the  Indians,  but,  if  occasion  arose,  of 
teaching  also  some  manners  to  the  Spaniards 


Life  oj  Bartolomd  de-Las  Casas.    311 

of  Cubagua,  who  could  not  conveniently 
get  drinking  water  anywhere  else.  L,as 
Casas  had  with  him  a  quarryman  and 
stone  cutter,  who  was'  put  to  work  at  once 
on  the  new  fortress  at  a  salary  of  eight 
gold  dollars  a  month.  But  the  worthies 
of  Cubagua  took  the  hint  and  either  by 
persuasion,  bribe,  or  hard  cash,  soon 
enticed  the  man  away ;  and  the  Clerigo 
was  left  in  the  impossibility  of  using 
what  artillery  he  had  brought  with  him. 
Meanwhile  the  intercourse  of  the  Spaniards 
with  the  natives  produced  worse  effects 
daily ;  drunkeness  especially  was  on  the 
increase,  and,  while  in  a  state  of  intoxi 
cation,  the  Indians  had  already  more  than 
once  used  against  each  other,  and  against 
the  Spaniards,  poisoned  arrows.  Con 
viction  forced  itself  at  last,  in  the  mind 
of  the  Protector  of  the  Indians,  that  their 
evangelization  was  impossible,  while  these 
conditions  existed.  The  very  thought  of  it 
made  his  heart  bleed ;  but  in  the  bitterness  of 
his  anguish  he  even  resolved  at  times  in  his 
mind  how  he  could  abandon  the  enterprise 
altogether.  He  had  assured  the  Indians, 
in  the  name  of  the  king,  that  they  would 
be  molested  no  longer,  and,  under  his  very 
eyes,  his  countrymen  did  the  reverse  of 
what  the  king  had  decreed.  The  articles 


312    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

of  agreement  called  for  a  judge,  who 
should  have  resided  on  the  reservation  to 
administer  justice.  But  nowhere  is  a 
judge,  magistrate  or  justice  of  the  peace 
mentioned  as  having  come  to  Cumana 
with  Las  Casas.  He  went  one  day  in  a 
skiff  to  see  the  alcalde,  who  resided  in 
Cubagua.  His  pleading,  entreating,  threat 
ening  the  anger  of  the  king,  if  the  Spaniards 
were  allowed  to  further  trespass  on  the  ter 
ritory  of  his  grant,  availed  nothing.  Things 
went  rather  from  bad  to  worse.  Bitter  ex 
perience  taught  the  priest,  that,  if  it  took 
five  or  six  years  to  have  the  necessary  laws 
enacted  to  protect  the  Indians,  it  was  even 
more  difficult  to  enforce  them  at  a  distance 
of  seven  or  eight  thousand  miles  from  the 
seat  of  the  central  government.  He  and 
his  friend,  the  superior  of  the  Franciscan 
community,  Juan  Garceto,  reached  at  last 
the  conclusion  that  something  should  be 
done  as  the  danger  to  their  own  and  their 
companions'  lives  was  growing  daily.  It 
was  agreed  that  the  king  alone  or  the  royal 
Audiencia  at  San)  Domingo  could  put  a 
stop  to  the  outrages  of  the  Spaniards  of  the 
Island  of  Cubagua,  and  that  their  authority 
should  be  appealed  to.  But,  who  should 
journey  to  Hispaniola,  or  even  to  Spain,  to 
make  the  necessary  representations?  At 


Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    313 

first  L,as  Casas  spurned  the  very  thought 
of  leaving  the  little  settlement  without  a 
head  and  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the 
Cubaguan  outlaws.  The  country  would 
soon  be  pillaged  by  the  whites,  and  the' 
Indians  would  seek  vengeance  on  his  asso 
ciates.  Many  conferences  were  held  with 
the  Friars,  at  which  Garceto  invariably  in 
sisted  that  the  Clerigo  himself  should  go. 
Daily  the  Clerigo,  after  celebrating  Mass  to 
implore  the  divine  assistance,  would  meet 
Garceto  and  the  other  Friars,  to  consult  to 
gether,  discuss  and  debate  on  different 
plans.  But  invariably  the  meetings  ended 
with  a  remark  from  Father  Superior,  "that 
the  Clerigo  himself  should  go."  A  couple 
of  vessels  were  then  loading  salt  for  Hi- 
spaniola  scarcely  a  league  from  Cumana. 
At  the  very  last  moment,  when  one  of  the 
vessels  was  ready  to  set  sails,  Las  Casas  de 
cided,  against  his  own  better  judgment,  to 
follow  the  Friar's  advise.  Taking  with 
him  only  his  wearing  apparel  and  some 
books  and  manuscripts,  he  departed  for 
San  Domingo.  Minute  instructions  were, 
however,  given  in  writing  to  Francisco 
de  Soto,  who  was  left  in  charge  of  the 
settlement  as  its  commanding  officer,  under 
no  circumstances,  to  allow  the  two  vessels 
to  get  out  of  sight  of  the  Curnana  convent, 


314    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

* 

but  to  have  them  ready  to  sail  at  any  time, 
should  an  emergency  arise  necessitating  the 
removal  of  men  and  goods.  This  De  Soto 
was  a  Spanish  nobleman,  who  had  come 
'from  Spain  with  I^as  Casas  to  look  for  a 
fortune. 

The  salt-laden  ship  on  which  the  Clerigo 
had  sailed,  had  scarcely  disappeared  on  the 
horizon,  when  he  thought  that  his  chance 
had  arrived.  Hastely  drawing  out  of  the 
ware -house  a  lot  of  Castilian  trinkets  and 
trifles,  he  loaded  them  into  the  two  ships, 
and  sent  them  in  opposite  directions  to 
barter  for  gold.  The  contingent  of  white 
men  at  Cumana  consisted  of  perhaps  forty 
individuals,  a  majority  of  whom  were  re 
quired  to  man  the  vessels  and  only  ten 
or  twelve  were  left  with  De  Soto  and  the 
Friars.  The  Indians  decided  to  follow 
the  example  of  their  brothers  of  Mara- 
capana  and  Chiribichi,  and  do  away,  from 
their  shores,  with  the  white  men,  Friars 
and  all.  The  day  for  the  massacre  was  set. 
But  faithful  old  Mary  felt  in  duty  bound  to 
warn  her  former  benefactors  of  their  in- 
pending  fate.  The  friars  managed  to  find  out 
the  very  day  on  which  the  assault  was  to  be 
made.  Fourteen  guns  were  gotten  ready 
and  an  effort  was  being  made  to  organize  a 
defense.  But  the  powder  was  found  to  be 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    315 

wet  and  unserviceable.  After  a  sleepless 
night,  De  Soto  went  reconnoitering  early 
in  the  morning,  to  see  if  any  unusual  com 
motion  or  warlike  preparation  was  taking 
place  in  the  Pueblo,  situated  a  gunshot 
away,  on  the  seashore.  At  sunrise  three  of 
his  men  were  busy  spreading  out  some  of 
the  powder  to  dry,  when  a  swarm  of  In 
dians  in  ambush  fell  upon  them  and  killed 
them.  Their  comrades,  warned  by  the 
savage  warcry,  took  shelter  in  the  ware 
house,  and  De  Soto,  though  wounded  by  a 
poisoned  arrow,  managed  to  join  them 
there.  One  of  the  doors  in  the  building 
opened  into  the  orchard  which  was  en 
closed  by  a  high  fence  or  palisade,  and  was 
traversed  by  a  deep  irrigation-ditch  or 
canal,  which  the  Friars  had  opened  to 
facilitate  the  watering  of  their  plants, 
vegetables  and  fruit  trees.  The  savages 
thirsting  for  more  blood,  and  unable  to 
reach  new  victims  endeavored  to  set  the 
ware-house  on  fire.  Meanwhile  the  be 
sieged  made  their  exit  into  the  orchard, 
and  creeping  along  side  of  the  tall  fence 
reached  the  irrigation-ditch,  crawled  into 
a  canoe,  that  was  moored  there  about, 
and,  protected  by  the  embankment,  made 
their  way  to  the  river.  The  frail  craft 
was  drifting  rapidly  towards  the  sea, 


316    Life  oj  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

when  an  old  lay  brother  was  heard  cal 
ling  to  them  from  a  cane-break  to  be 
taken  on  board.  They  saw  him  standing 
on  the  river  shore  a  short  distance  be 
hind  them,  and  made  frantic  efforts  against 
the  current  to  reach  him,  but  made  little 
or  110  progress.  The  good  old  man,  seeing 
that  he  endangered  the  lives  of  all  on 
board,  waved  to  them  to  save  themselves, 
and  to  leave  him  to  his  fate.  They 
reached  the  sea,  and  had  made  half  the 
distance  to  the  ship  that  was  loading 
salt,  when  a  pirogue  was  spied,  loaded 
with  Indians  in  hot  pursuit.  The  blood 
thirsting  savages  were  armed,  and,  as 
theirs  was  the  lighter  boat,  the  distance 
between  the  two  crafts  was  visibly  be 
coming  smaller  and  smaller.  Escape  on 
water  was  impossible,  and  the  Spaniards 
made  for  the  shore  followed  by  the  In 
dians.  The  land  about  there  was  grass- 
less  and  treeless,  but  overgrown  by  a 
thicket  of  gigantic  cactuses,  frequently 
met  with  in  Central  and  South  America, 
the  thorns  of  which  are  as  stout  and  as 
long  as  shoemakers'  awls.  The  white 
men,  protected  by  their  clothes,  managed 
to  find  hiding  places,  whereas  the  naked 
natives  dared  not  follow  them.  Three 
days  past,  however,  before  the  last  of  the 


Life  of  Bartolom£  de  Las  Casas.    317 

famished  and  forlorn  fugitives,  with  their 
garments  tattered,  and  their  bodies  clotted 
with  blood,  reached  the  ship.  De  Soto 
alone  was  missing,  who,  when  seen  last, 
was  laying  in  the  shade  of  a  cactus.  A 
skiff  was  manned  to  look  for  his  body,  but 
he  was  found  alive,  though  perishing  from 
thirst  rather  than  from  the  wound  inflicted 
by  the  poisoned  arrow.  No  sooner  was 
water  given  to  him  than  he  died  in  a 
paroxism  of  hydrophobia. 

The  survivors  sailed  with  the  cargo  of 
salt,  and  reached  San  Domingo  safely. 
It  is  presumed  that  the  two  vessels,  owned 
by  Las  Casas,  which  De  Soto  had  sent  on 
a  gold  hunting  expedition,  must  have  also 
reached  a  port  of  safety,  as  he  states  that, 
of  all  those  who  had  followed  him  to 
Cumana,  only  four  had  been  killed,  besides 
the  lay  brother.  The  Indians  not  only 
fired  the  ware-house  and  the  convent,  but 
cut  the  trees  in  the  orchard,  killed  the 
animals  and  left  not  a  vestige  of  that  former 
abode  of  peace.*) 

*)  The  authorities  of  San  Domingo  sent  some 
time  after  an  expedition  to  Cumana,  terrorized  and 
pacified  the  Indians,  reestablished  the  pearl  fisheries 
of  Cubagua  and  built  a  fort  on  the  very  spot  where 
Las  Casas  had  begun  his.  On  the  famous  little 
island  a  town  was  built  and  called  New  Cadiz, 
which  lasted  as  long  as  the  pearl  fisheries  and  was 
then  abandoned. 


318    Life  of  Barlolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

We  parted  company  with  the  Clerigo, 
while  he  was  journeying  to  Hispaniola. 
His  former  associates,  and  the  Friars,  ar 
rived  in  San  Domingo  long  before  him. 
The  captain  of  his  freight-ship,  who  had 
little  experience  of  those  southern  waters, 
lost  his  reckoning  and  after  wandering  for 
many  days,  landed  at  last  at  the  port  of 
Yaquimo,  more  than  two  hundred  miles 
east  of  San  Domingo.  Two  months  had 
been  wasted  in  trying  to  sail  back,  against 
the  gulf  stream,  to  the  city,  when  L,as  Casas 
went  ashore,  made  for  the  town  of  Yaguana, 
and  thence  travelled  on  foot  to  San  Do 
mingo,  a  total  distance  of  some  two  hundred 
and  fifty  miles.  A  couple  of  servants  had 
accompanied  him  from  Cumana,  who 
shared  with  him  the  long  tramp.  They 
were  Hearing  their  journey's  end,  when  one 
day  the  Clerigo  stopped  to  eat  and  rest, 
and,  after  the  meal,  went  to  sleep  under  a 
tree.  Some  travellers  from  San  Domingo 
happened  to  pass  by,  and  the  priest's 
servants  asked  them,  if  they  had  any  news 
from  San  Domingo  or  the  old  world. 

"None,"  they  answered,  "except  that 
the  Indians  of  the  pearl  coast  have  killed 
the  Clerigo  Las  Casas,  and  all  the  members 
of  his  household." 

"As  to  that,"  replied  the  servants,  "we 
are  living  witnesses  that  it  is  impossible. ' ' 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    319 

A  dispute  as  to  the  truth  of  the  news  was 
in  progress,  when  Las  Casas  awoke  and 
overheard  it.  The  information  stunned 
him,  and  dazed  him,  and  he  says  that  he 
then  felt  as  if  he  had  just  emerged  from  an 
abyss.  The  surviving  Friars  had  arrived 
in  the  city  from  Cumana,  and,  as  frequently 
it  happens  in  similar  cases,  the  catastrophe 
had  been  exaggerated.  The  Clerigo  had  not 
been  seen  or  heard  of,  and  was  given  up  for 
dead.  It  was  welcomed  news  to  many, 
who  were  glad  to  be  ridden  of  a  severe 
censor,  and  of  the  man,  who  blocked  their 
way  to  wealth  and  agrandisement. 

As  the  first  American  priest  regained  the 
full  use  of  his  senses,  it  flashed  through  his 
mind  that  it  had  all  happened  as  a  just 
punishment  from  God,  for  having  chosen 
as  his  associates,  men,  who  worked,  not  for 
the  glory  of  God  or  the  salvation  of  souls, 
but  for  their  own  selfish  interests.  He  even 
feared  or  believed  that  he  had  offended 
God,  in  attempting  to  use  means  so  different 
from  those  that  had  been  adopted  by  our 
Lord  and  his  apostles  in  evangelizing  the 
nations  Why  had  he  not  followed  the 
plan,  he  had  first  proposed  to  himself,  and 
chosen  fifty  good  Christians  for  his  com 
panions  and  colaborers,  even  though  these 
would  have  had  in  view  some  temporal 


32O    Life  of  Barlolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

gain,  while  working  to  spread  the  gospel 
and  save  souls?  God,  in  his  mercy,  must 
have  looked  at  his  good  intentions,  rather 
than  at  his  work;  for  he  preserved  him 
from  an  imminent  and  cruel  death .  He  ends 
the  narrative  of  his  disastrous  attempt  at 
colonization  as  follows  :  ' 'The  Clerigo  pro 
ceeded  on  his  journey  in  great  anxiety  and 
sorrow,  to  learn  more  minutely  the  parti 
culars  of  what  had  happened.  Some  friends 
of  his  came  to  see  him  and  to  console  him, 
offering  to  loan  him  four,  five  or  more 
thousand  dollars,  if  he  wished  to  make 
another  trial  of  the  enterprise.  If  their 
motive  was  the  glory  of  God  and  the  sal 
vation  of  souls,  or  rather  temporal  gain, 
God  only  knows,  who  alone  will  decide  it 
on  last  judgement  day.  I  will  conclude  the 
life  of  the  Clerigo  by  saying  that,  as  soon 
as  he  arrived  in  San  Domingo,  he  wrote 
to  the  king  all  that  had  happened,  and  then 
determined  to  wait  for  an  answer,  because 
he  had  not  the  means  then  to  travel  per 
sonally  to  the  court,  although  friends  were 
not  wanting  who  would  have  helped  him 
with  a  loan  of  money.  And,  had  he  gone, 
he  would  have  succeeded,  no  doubt,  in  pre 
venting  the  evils  and  destructive  catastro 
phes,  that  followed  each  other  in  those 
lands,  in  having  the  men  punished,  who 
had  blocked  his  way  and  caused  the  rebel- 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    321 

lion  of  tne  Indians,  because  the  king  had 
then  returned  from  Spain  and  with  him  the 
influential  gentlemen,  who  had  backed  him 
before.  In  fact,  as  they  heard  what  had 
happened,  they  wrote  him  to  come  back, 
and  that  he  would  be  favored  by  the  king 
more  than  he  had  been  before.  Pope 
Adrian  wrote  him  also  ;  but  the  letters  ar 
rived  at  a  time  when  he  could  no  longer 
dispose  of  his  own  actions.  Had  he  had 
the  means,  and  gone  at  once  to  Spain  on 
his  arrival  in  San  Domingo,  perhaps  he 
could  have  put  a  stop  to  the  tyranny,  by 
which  the  Indians  were  then,  and  have 
since  been  oppressed.  But,  indeed  God  did 
not  put  it  in  his  heart  to  do  so,  either  be 
cause,  according  to  the  decree  of  his  in 
scrutable  divine  providence,  those  people 
(the  Indians)  were  destined  to  perish,  or 
because  the  cup  of  iniquity  had  not  yet  been 
filled  by  our  own  natixm.  He  waited  for  a 
few  months  for  an  answer,  during  which 
the  Dominican  Fathers  were  almost  his 
only  associates.  His  time  was  mostly  spent 
in  the  company  of  one  of  them  named 
Domingo  *  )  de  Betanzos,  a  very  virtuous  and 

*)  Father  Domingo  de  Betanzos  was  one  of  the 
first  Dominicans,  who  went  to  Mexico.  He  was 
elected  bishop  of  Santiago  de  los  Caballeros  (old 
Guatemala  City),  but  declined  the  mitre.  In  1535 
he  was  elected  first  provincial  of  the  Dominicans  in 
Mexico. 

21 


322    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

pious  man.  The  good  Father  often  tried  to 
convince  the  Clerigo,  that  he  ought  to  be 
come  a  Friar,  saying  that  he  had  labored 
long  enough  in  behalf  of  the  Indians,  and 
that,  inasmuch  as  his  Cumana  venture, 
though  good  in  itself,  had  proved  a  failure, 
it  was  a  sign  that  it  was  not  God's  will  he 
should  continue  in  similar  undertakings. 
The  Clerigo  advanced  many  objections  to 
his  entering  a  religious  community,  among 
others  that  it  was  but  proper  that  he  should 
wait  for  an  answer  from  the  king,  and  see 
what  his  wishes  were.  "But  Sefior,"  said 
then  the  good  Father  warmly,  "what  if 
you  should  die  in  the  mean  time  ?  who 
should  then  receive  the  orders  of  the  king 
or  his  letters  ? '  *  The  words  made  a  deep 
impression  on  the  heart  of  the  Clerigo 
Casas,  who  ever  after  thought  more  and 
more  seriously  about  his  vocation.  He 
ended  by  considering  himself  already  dead 
to  the  world,  should  the  letters  come.  He 
asked  for  the  religious  habit  and  got  it. 

As  the  news  spread  that  the  Clerigo  had 
become  a  Friar,  there  was  general  rejoicing ; 
in  the  Dominican  convent  as  well  as 
throughout  all  the  Indies.  In  the  con 
vent,  because  its  inmates  were  glad  to  see 
their  beloved  friend  converted  to  their 
manner  of  life,  and  into  a  member  of  their 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    323 

community  ;  and  outside  of  it,  because  the 
worldlings  were  glad  to  see  him  buried  in 
a  cloister,  who  had  proved  the  most  power 
ful  obstacle  to  their  dishonest  conduct  in 
the  accumulation  of  temporal  wealth.  But, 
to  the  disappointment  of  many,  he  rose 
again,  by  the  will  of  God,  it  appears,  to 
prevent  some  of  their  evil  doings,  and  to 
point  out  and  make  it  as  clear  as  daylight, 
that  the  state,  in  which  many  of  them 
lived,  was  dangerous,  and  that  theirs  was  a 
lethargic  sleep  and  inconceivable  blind 
ness,  which  prevented  them  from  seeing, 
that  sins,  more  grievous  than  any  com 
mitted  since  the  fall  of  man,  were  not  sins 
at  all.  He  had  already  entered  the  novitiate 
when  letters  came  from  cardinal  Adrian, 
who  had  become  Pope,  and  from  the 
Flemish  gentlemen,  advising  him  to  come 
back  to  court,  and  assuring  him  that  they 
would  favor  him  as  much  as  ever,  or  more. 
But  the  superior  of  the  convent,  not  to 
trouble  him  (porque  no  se  inquietase  quiza) 
did  not  show  them  to  him  ....  And  here 
we  must  stop  speaking  of  the  Clerigo,  now 
Fray  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas,  for  a  few 
years,  during  which  he  seems  to  have  been 
asleep.  But  there  are  many  more  things 
to  be  said  of  him,  and  we  will  write  them 
at  the  proper  time  if  God  will  prolong  our 


324    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

life."     (Historia  de  Las  Indias,  book  III. 
chapter  CI^X.j  *) 

It  is  scarcely  probable  that  trie  Protector 
of  the  Indians,  who  lived  until  July  1566 
enjoying  good  health  and  the  full  pos 
session  of  his  faculties,  should  have  sud 
denly  abandoned  the  greatest  literary  work 
of  his  life.  As  Remesal,  his  earliest  bio 
grapher,  tells  of  certain  events,  that 
happened  as  late  as  1533  as  being  spoken 
of  in  the  Historia  de  Las  Indias  of  Las 
Casas ,  it  seems  to  be  evident,  that  we  do 
not  possess  all  of  the  important  historical 
work,  which  ends  abruptly  with  the  year 
1521.  Among  his  many  titles  to  the 
gratitude  of  posterity,  the  first  American 
priest  deserves  especially  to  be  called  the 
Father  of  American  history.  I^et  us  hope 
that  some  lucky  student  may  soon  unearth 
the  IV.  and  the  V.  book  of  Historia  de 
Las  Indias,  which  must  be  buried  in  some 
library  of  Seville  or  Madrid,  or  possibly  in 

*)  God  did  prolong  his  life  five  or  six  years,  but, 
of  all  that  is  known  to  exist  of  his  great  Historia, 
not  a  word  more  is  found  about  the  Clerigo  or  Fray 
Bartolom6.  The  Historia  de  las  Indias,  as  we  have 
it,  ends  with  the  IJI.  book  and  with  these  words : 
"And  may  it  please  God,  that  in  this  current  year 
1561  the  council  of  the  Indias  may  be  free  from  it. 
(Ignorance  and  blindness.)  And  with  this  impre 
cation  to  the  honor  and  glory  of  God,  we  end  this 
third  book." 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    325 

Paris,  where  some  of  liis  other  writings 
were  found.  Meanwhile  I  regret  being 
compelled  to  continue  the  thread  of  his 
life,  without  the  Historia  de  Las  Indias, 
which  heretofore  has  been  my  main  guiding 
star. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
Las   Casas   a   Friar. 

CASAS  entered  the  Dominican  no 
vitiate  in  1521,  and  was  admitted  to 
make  his  vows  in  1523,  being  then  49  years 
of  age.  Hardships  he  had  seen  in  Cuba, 
while  following  the  expeditionary  forces  of 
Velasquez,  and  during  his  disastrous 
attempt  at  colonization  in  Cumana.  But 
as  a  student  in  Salamanca,  as  the  adminis 
trator  of  his  father's  interests  in  Hispaniola, 
and,  later,  as  a  miner  and  landed  proprietor, 
he  may  be  said  to  have  lived  the  first  part 
of  his  life  in  comparative  affluence,  as  a 
Spanish  Hidalgo,  or  gentleman.  *)  A 
Dominican  convent  in  Hispaniola  and  the 
austere  requirements  of  the  rule  must  have 
had  few  attractions  to  flesh  and  blood. 
Nevertheless  it  is  not  improbable  that  a 
disgust  for  a  deceitful  and  treacherous 

*)  In  the  VIII.  Chapter  of  the  V.  dome  of  his 
Historia  Apologetica,  Las  Casas  tells  us  that  he 
owned  a  plantation  on  the  shores  of  the  river  Yuna, 
in  Hispaniola,  the  produce  of  which  were  worth 
$100,000.  "Tuvo  labranza  de  pan  de  la  tierra,  que 
valian,  cada  ano,  mas  de  cien  mil  Castellanos." 

(326) 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    327 

world,  which  had  caused  the  failure  of  his 
Cumana  venture  ^  contributed  as  much  to 
his  determination  to  enter  the  monastic 
state,  as  the  arguments  of  good  Friar  Be- 
tanzos.  The  biographers  of  Las  Casas  are 
unanimous  in  rejecting  as  unhistorical  the 
insinuation  of  Oviedo,  that  the  Clerigo 
availed  himself  of  the  shelter  and  protection, 
which  the  cloister  afforded  him  to  shield 
himself  from  the  consequences  of  his 
disastrous  undertaking.  And  indeed  nothing 
could  be  imagined  more  unconsonant  to  the 
character  of  the  first  American  priest,  than 
cowardice  or  pusillanimity. 

Very  little  is  known  of  Las  Casas'  life 
during  his  novitiate  and  the  four  years 
immediately  following  it.  The  transition 
was  radical  and  violent.  From  an  eminent 
man  of  the  world  and  adviser  of  kings,  the 
uncompromising  champion  of  the  liberty  of 
the  American  Indian,  and  the  promoter  of 
gigantic  schemes  of  colonization,  the 
American  priest  placed  himself  under  the 
direction  of  a  Master  of  Novices,  and,  for  a 
few  years,  his  life  was  spent  in  the  per 
formance  of  religious  practices  and  in  study. 
His  name  was  seldom  mentioned  outside 
the  convent  walls.  He  had  died  to  the 
world,  but  soon  to  rise  again.  The  first 
years  of  his  religious  life  were  a  training 


328    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

school,  a  palestra,  in  which  the  athlete 
strengthened  and  further  fitted  himself  for 
his  task  and  unfinished  mission. 

In  those  ages  of  faith  civil  law  was  based 
on  moral  theology,  and  canon  law  on  the 
scriptures.  Hence  a  diploma  in  both  civil 
and  canon  law  could  not  be  obtained  from  a 
university,  without  a  study  of  theology  and 
the  scriptures  sufficient  to  entitle  the  grad 
uate  to  holy  orders.  But  a  regular  course 
of  dogmatic  and  moral  theology  L,as  Casas 
had  never  made.  In  becoming  a  member 
of  the  order  of  Friars  Preachers  in  holy 
orders,  the  first  American  priest  to  comply 
with  the  rule  of  the  order,  applied  himself, 
during  the  first  years  of  his  religious  life, 
to  a  systematic  and  serious  study  of  the 
ecclesiastical  sciences.  Those  were  per 
haps  the  happiest  days  of  his  life,  which 
were  spent  in  the  quiet  seclusion  of  the 
Dominican  convent  of  the  town  of  San 
Domingo.  It  was  there  that  he  witnessed 
the  death  of  the  founder  of  the  Dominican 
order  in  America,  Father  Pedro  de  Cordova, 
which  occurred  on  the  2 8th  of  June,  1525. 
The  short  life  and  death  of  that  holy  man 
seems  to  have  exercised  a  wholesome  and 
powerful  influence  on  the  Protector  of  the 
Indians,  who  makes  frequent  mention  of 
him  in  his  writings  always  in  terms 


Life  ofBartolomti  de  Las  Casas.    329 

denoting  profound  admiration  and  ven 
eration.  *) 

In  the  CCIV.  chapter  of  his  Historia 
Apologetica  he  says  of  him:  "The  first 
ecclesiastic  to  go  to  that  province  (of 
Chiribichi)  for  the  purpose  of  spreading  the 
catholic  faith,  and  drawing  its  people  to 
their  creator,  Jesus  Christ,  was  a  holy  and 
learned  man,  and  a  graceful  preacher,  in 
whose  person  shined  eminent  prudence  and 
many  other  virtues.  It  was  he,  who  first 
brought  over  and  founded  in  these  Indies 
the  Order  of  St.  Dominic,  which  he  pre 
served  in  strict  religious  discipline,  truly 
leading  it  back  to  its  primitive  observance. ' ' 

L,as  Casas  spent  about  five  years  in  mak 
ing  his  novitiate  and  in  the  study  of  the 
religious  sciences.  But  when  he  entered 
anew  the  active  ministry,  we  find  him  pro 
foundly  versed  in  civil  and  canon  law,  in 
moral  and  dogmatic  theology,  intimately 
acquainted  with  the  conditions,  civil,  moral 
and  religious  both  of  Europe  and  America. 
No  mean  orator  and  withal  an  able  dialect 
ician,  he  was  one  of  the  best  educated  men 
of  his  times.  His  short  monastic  seclusion 
served  to  highten  and  intensify  his  zeal, 
his  faith  and  his  enthusiasm.  Such  a  man 
could  not  long  remain  unknown  and  un- 

*)  Pedro  de  Cordova  died  at  the  age  of  about  43. 


330    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

heard  in  a  cloister.  It  is  known  that  as 
early  as  1527,  lie  was  already  superior  of 
a  community  of  his  order.  "Three  leagues 
west  of  the  Vega,  there  is  the  port  of  La  PI  at  a, 
and  adjoining  it,  is  the  town  of  that  name, 
and  on  a  hill  overlooking  it,  a  Dominican 
convent,  where  I  began  writing  this  history 
during  the  year  1527." 

A  letter,  written  in  1533,  by  the  judges 
of  the  supreme  court  of  Hispaniola  to  Philip 
the  second,  then  crown  prince  of  Spain, 
tells  us  that  Las  Casas  had  been,  but  was 
then  no  longer  prior  of  the  convent  of  La 
Plata.  It  says  :  " Father  Bartolome  de  Las 
Casas,  well  known  to  your  royal  council  of 
state,  was  once  prior  of  the  Dominican  con 
vent  at  Puerto  de  Plata.  That  prior  caused 
some  scandal  or  uneasiness  in  that  town, 
and  spread  certain  opinions  among  the  in 
habitants  concerning  the  Indians,  that 
caused  them  to  entertain  some  scruples  of 
conscience." 

This  document,  discovered  by  Don  An 
tonio  Fabie,  the  latest  biographer  of  Las 
Casas,  shows  not  only  that  he  was  superior 
of  that  convent  shortly  after  his  novitiate, 
and  theological  studies,  but  that  once  more, 
he  considered  it  his  duty  to  protect  the 
Indians  with  all  the  impetuosity  and  fixed 
ness  of  purpose,  that  seems  to  have  been 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    331 

the  most  salient  trait  of  his  character.  A 
slaveholder  of  La  Plata  was  at  the  point  of 
death,  and  Las  Casas  was  either  called,  or 
went  uninvited,  to  hear  the  dying  man's 
confession.  The  penitent  was  warned, 
that  he  would  be  damned,  unless  he  set  free 
his  Indian  slaves.  The  consequence  was, 
that  a  new  will  was  there  and  then  drawn, 
in  virtue  of  which  the  unfortunate  natives 
became  free  men.  Only  then  was  the 
parish  priest,  who  meanwhile  had  been 
waiting  in  an  adjoining  room  with  the 
blessed  sacrament,  admitted  to  the  sick 
man,  to  administer  the  holy  viaticum.  The 
letter  of  the  judges  tells  us  also  how  his 
connections  with  the  convent  of  La  Plata 
were  ended.  u After  the  man's  death, " 
they  say,  uhe  took  possession  of  the 
property  of  the  deceased,  thus  despoiling 
the  natural  heirs,  and  disposed  of  it,  as  he 
thought  proper.  To  avoid  similar  incon 
veniences,  we  asked  his  superior  to  remove 
him  to  this  convent,  (of  San  Domingo) 
where  he  is  at  present. n 

Evidently  the  first  American  priest  had 
learned  his  duties  well,  and  forced  the  sick 
man  to  restore  his  illgotten  wealth,  offering 
himself  as  the  intermediary  for  the  resti 
tution. 

His  endeavors  to  reduce  to  practice  the 


332    Life  ofBariolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

doctrine,  that  tlie  Spaniards  in  America 
were  bound  to  restitution  of  all  the  wealth 
acquired  through  and  by  means  of  Indian 
slavery,  will  afford  some  interesting  read 
ing.  It  is  enough  to  say  here,  that  from  the 
spring  of  1514,  when  he  preached  to  the 
Spaniards  of  Cuba,  that  they  had  no  chance 
of  salvation,  while  retaining  Repartimientos 
of  Indians,  to  the  hour  of  his  death,  the 
Protector  of  the  Indians  never  wavered  in 
his  opinion  for  an  instant. 

The  scruples  of  conscience  of  the  people 
of  L,a  Plata  were  caused  by  the  sermons  of 
Las  Casas,  and  by  his  private  conver 
sations.  In  his  possession  was  a  copy  of 
Father  Montesino's  address  at  San  Do 
mingo,  and  the  style  of  his  discourses  is  not 
difficult  to  imagine.  He  had  not  forgotten 
his  title  of  Protector  of  the  Indians,  and  the 
Spaniards  of  Hispaniola  soon  found  out 
that  the  old  Clerigo,  now  Fray  Bartolome 
de  Las  Casas,  who,  they  thought,  had  been 
buried  in  a  cloister,  had  rather  suddenly 
come  to  life  again.  Nor  was  his  voice  to 
be  heard  only  in  an  obscure  settlement  of 
that  West  Indian  Island. 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  the  Fran 
ciscans,  as  early  as  the  year  1510,  had  built 
a  convent  at  Vera  Paz,  in  the  province  of 
Xaragua.  There  they  had  adopted,  so  to 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    333 

speak,  the  son  of  a  neighboring  Cacique, 
educated  him,  and  baptized  him  with  the 
name  Henrique  (Henry).  Don  Henrique, 
or,  as  he  was  generally  called,  Henriquillo 
(little  Henry)  married  an  Indian  girl, 
known  by  her  Christian  name  of  Dona  (lady) 
Mencia,  like  her  husband,  of  aristocratic 
lineage.  The  young  couple  and  the  In 
dians  of  their  Caciquedom  were  given  in 
encomienda  to  a  certain  unmarried  young 
gentleman,  by  the  name  of  Valenzuela. 
It  is  not  said  how,  but  Henriquillo  had  come 
in  possession  of  a  mare,  which  was  his  own 
individual  property,  and  was  valued  by  its 
owner  more  than  all  his  other  possessions. 
Valenzuela  appropriated  the  animal  to  him 
self,  and  later  abducted  the  Indian's  wife 
as  well.  Henriquillo  complained  of  the 
cruel  wrong,  and  got  a  severe  whipping  for 
his  trouble.  He  then  appealed  to  the  civil 
authorities  of  a  neighboring  town,  and  was 
there  threatened  with  severer  punishment, 
should  he  further  complain  of  Valenzuela. 
After  having  been  kept  under  surveillance 
for  a  few  days,  the  educated  Indian,  as  a 
last  resort,  appeared  before  the  audiencia  in 
San  Domingo,  and  there  lodged  a  com 
plaint  against  his  would-be  master.  But 
he  got  nothing  better  than  a  friendly  letter 
of  recommendation  to  the  civil  authorities, 


334    Ltfe  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

who  had  placed  him  under  arrest,  which, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  afforded  him  no 
redress.  But  Henriquillo  had  not  received 
his  education  in  vain.  He  fained  satis 
faction  at  the  treatment  received  in  San 
Domingo,  as  long  as  his  people  were  at 
work  in  the  mines  or  on  Valenzuela's  plan 
tation.  But  as  soon  as  these  were  allowed 
to  return  to  their  mountain  homes,  in  the 
neighboring  sierra  to  make  a  crop  for  their 
own  sustenance,  Henriquillo  accompanied 
them,  and  there  resolved  to  resist  any 
attempt  to  force  him  or  his  braves  to  return 
to  work  for  the  white  man.  He  contrived 
to  provide  himself  with  a  supply  of  Castilian 
weapons,  lances,  swords,  etc.,  and  drilled 
his  followers  to  handle  them  to  advantage. 
Having  heard  of  the  chief's  doings,  Valen- 
zuela,  accompanied  by  ten  other  Spaniards 
went  to  fetch  him  back,  by  force,  if  neces 
sary.  The  erstwhile  servant,  on  seeing  his 
master,  politely  advised  him  to  go  home. 
His  words  aroused  Valenzuela,  who  at 
tempted  to  capture  Henriquillo.  A  general 
fray  ensued,  during  which  two  Spaniards 
were  killed  and  their  leader  taken  prisoner. 
But  happily  for  Valenzuela  the  Indian  had 
learned  from  the  Franciscans  to  practice 
even  the  heroic  virtue  of  forgiveness. 
Strict  orders  had  been  given  by  the  Indian 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    335 

general  to  liis  followers,  under  no  circum 
stances,  to  harm  the  white  men  or  their 
property,  except  in  defending  their  own 
and  their  persons.  The  chief  set  his 
prisoner  free,  contenting  himself  with  the 
words  :  uYou  should  thank  me,  Valenzuela, 
that  I  spare  your  life.  Go  home  and  come 
back  no  more.  Beware. n 

Henriquillo  did  not  neglect  his  quarter 
master  department  for  his  handful  of  brave 
followers.  In  many  of  the  wildest  and  most 
secluded  nooks  of  the  sierra  he  tilled  numer 
ous  patches  of  ground  many  miles  apart 
from  each  other.  His  vigilance  against 
surprises  or  ambuscades  would  have  done 
credit  to  a  Napoleon.  He  slept  but  a  few 
hours  each  night,  with  a  body  guard  on 
each  side  of  him,  personally  doing  picket 
duty  the  rest  of  the  night  and  during  the 
day. 

Meanwhile  the  news  of  Valenzuela's  de 
feat  had  spread  throughout  the  island,  and 
reached  the  offices  of  the  Audiencia  at 
San  Domingo.  Eighty  soldiers  were  sent 
to  apprehend  the  outlawed  chief,  or  to  kill 
him.  Henriquillo,  who  was  warned  of  their 
approach,  first  decoyed  them  to  pursue 
him  through  the  mountain  forests  for 
several  days,  and  when  he  felt  assured,  that 
the  Spaniards  were  famished  and  ex- 


336    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

hausted,  gave  tliem  battle,  and  routed 
them.  The  fame  of  his  victory  brought 
him  many  more  recruits  from  among  run 
away  slaves,  who  were  ready  to  risk  life 
and  all  in  order  to  breathe  once  more  the 
air  of  freedom.  These  too  were  drilled 
and  disciplined. 

The  problem  of  this  Indian  insurrection, 
as  the  Spaniards  were  pleased  to  call  it, 
had  become  serious,  when  Father  Remis, 
who  had  been  the  teacher  of  Henriquillo, 
and  was  then  superior  of  the  French. 
Franciscans,  offered  to  make  an  attempt 
to  induce  him  to  surrender  peacefully. 
He  sailed  to  the  southern  part  of  the  island, 
where  the  chief  was  thought  to  be.  There 
he  was  met  by  some  of  the  latter 's  scouts, 
who,  obedient  to  their  leader's  orders  did 
not  harm  him,  but  contented  themselves 
with  stripping  him  of  his  habit,  which  they 
brought  to  camp.  The  Friar's  apparel  and 
a  note  from  him,  fetched  the  chief  to  the 
shore,  where  the  old  teacher  was  treated 
with  the  utmost  courtesy.  But  to  the 
pleadings  of  the  teacher  the  pupil  answered 
in  rounded  Castilian  periods,  reciting  the 
tyranny  of  the  Spaniards,  the  massacre  of 
his  ancestors,  the  thefts  of  Valenzuela,  etc., 
and  nothing  came  of  the  interview. 

Ramirez  de  Fuenleal  had  come  to    Hi- 


Life  of  Bartolonid  de  Las  Casas.    337 

spaniola  in  1527,  as  chief  justice  of  the 
Audiencia,  and  as  bishop  of  San  Domingo. 
The  rebellion  of  Henriquillo  being  by  this 
time  well  known  in  Spain,  the  judge-bishop 
had  received  instructions  to  crush  it.  An 
army  was  recruited  to  carry  them  out, 
which  was  also  defeated.  Letters  came 
a  year  later  to  the  Audiencia,  insisting  that 
the  rebellion  be  put  down  at  any  cost.  To 
make  matters  worse,  two  other  Caciques, 
Ciguayo  and  Tamayo,  encouraged  by  the 
successes  of  Henriquillo,  had  also  taken 
to  the  mountains :  but  unlike  the  hero 
Christian  chief,  they  lived  by  rapine,  and 
many  were  the  murders  with  which  they 
were  charged. 

The  judge-bishop  at  last  put  on  his 
thinking  cap,  and  decided  to  call  in  con 
sultation  Las  Casas,  the  Protector  of  the 
Indians,  who,  it  was  known  everywhere, 
had  more  influence  and  a  greater  as 
cendency  over  the  Indians,  than  any  one 
else  in  all  America.  He  proff erred  cheer 
fully  to  make  a  second  attempt  to  induce 
the  chief  to  surrender  peacefully.  But  the 
president  of  the  Audiencia  represented  that 
the  mission  of  Father  Remis  had  ended  in 
failure.  To  which  Las  Casas  answered  : 

' 'My  lord,  how  many  times  have  you, 
and  this  Audiencia,  endeavored  to  bring 
that  man  to  the  king's  obedience  by  war?" 
22 


338    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

"Many  times",  replied  Fuenleal ;  ''near 
ly  every  year  an  army  has  been  raised  and 
sent  against  him,  and  we  shall  have  to  raise 
more  until  he  dies  or  surrenders." 

L,as  Casas  :  uAnd  how  many  times  did 
you  try  to  conquer  him  by  peaceful  ways?" 

Fuenleal:  "As  far  as  I  know,  only 
once." 

L,as  Casas  :  uWhy  then  did  you  get  tired 
of  peaceful  ways  so  easily,  and  tried  them 
only  once,  and  adopted  on  the  contrary  the 
harsh  and  difficult  ways  of  wars  that  have 
always  proved  futile?  I  have  a  mind  to 
recommend  this  affair  to  God  very  earnest 
ly  ;  and  I  don't  think  it  possible  that  He 
will  not  encourage  those  ways  of  peace  and 
meekness  with  which  He  has  charged  us  to 
treat  our  enemies.  With  the  permission  of 
my  superior  and  yours,  I  propose  to  go  to 
the  Cacique,  and  I  trust  in  Our  Lord,  that 
I  will  succeed  in  fetching  him  at  the  feet  of 
your  lordship,  or,  at  least,  to  have  with  him 
an  understanding  about  a  modus  Vivendi, 
by  which  an  end  shall  be  put  to  this  plague, 
of  which  the  island  has  been  suffering  •  for 
the  past  ten  years." 

Don  Henrique  (the  Spaniards  had  learned 
to  speak  of  the  chief  respectfully,  and  ad 
dressed  him  as  Don)  and  his  followers  had, 
no  doubt,  heard  in  their  boyhood  days  of 


Life  ofBarlolom&  de  Las  Casas.    339 

their  friend  Behique,  who  had  never 
proved  untrue  to  an  Indian.  When  there 
fore  Las  Casas  made  his  way  alone  to  Hen 
riquillo 's  mountain  fastnesses,  he  was  re 
ceived  very  respectfully  by  his  spies. 
Having  heard  that  the  Protector  of  the 
Indians  was  approaching,  Henriquillo  de 
signated  a  shady  spot  as  their  place  of 
meeting.  And  now  we  behold  a  scene 
worthy  of  Buonarotti's  pencil.  There  sat 
the  noble  Christian  chieftain,  the  son  of 
a  dethroned  ruler,  who,  strong  in  the 
justice  of  his  cause,  had  defied  the  power 
of  Charles  V.  for  full  ten  years ;  and  by 
his  side  Behique,  the  man  of  God,  the 
friend  of  the  Indians.  "You  must  lay 
down  your  arms,"  the  priest  had  come  to 
tell  him,  "for  unless  you  shall  forgive  your 
enemies  from  the  heart,  you  shall  not 
enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  To  which 
Henriquillo  must  have  answered  :  "Must  I 
bend  my  neck  to  the  despoiler  of  my 
father's  people?  Must  I  forgive  them, 
who  oppressed,  starved  and  murdered  my 
kinsfolks?  Forgive  them,  who  made  of 
my  country,  erstwhile  a  garden  spot  in 
midocean,  a  mining  camp,  a  slave  market 
and  a  graveyard,  where  the  unburied  bones 
of  my  ancestors  are  now  bleaching?" 
"Unless  you  forgive  your  enemies  from  the 


34°    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

heart,  you  shall  not  enter  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  This  must  have  been  the -sum 
total  of  the  arguments  of  the  first  American 
priest  with  Henri  quillo.  Nevertheless  a 
treaty  of  peace,  so  to  speak,  was  there  and 
then  signed,  by  the  terms  of  which  the 
Indian  acknowledged  the  sovereignty  of 
Spain  over  his  country,  while  not  only 
amnesty  for  himself  and  his  followers  was 
insured,  but  freedom  to  live  unmolested  in 
their  mountain  pueblos  without  a  master. 

Las  Casas  returned  to  San  Domingo, 
and  the  news  of  his  successful  mission 
became  a  source  of  rejoicing  all  over  the 
island.  Henri  quillo  doubted  not  the  word 
of  the  Protector  of  the  Indians.  But, 
would  his  countrymen  carry  out  in  good 
faith  the  treaty  of  peace  between  the 
white  and  the  red  man  just  signed  by 
their  ambassador?  He  had  therefore  re 
quired  of  Las  Casas  that  he  should  cause 
to  be  formally  ratified  the  articles  of 
agreement  by  the  proper  and  highest 
authorities  in  the  island. 

A  certain  San  Miguel,  one  of  the  oldest 
settlers,  who  had  come  to  Hispaniola  with 
Christopher  Columbus  on  his  second 
voyage  was  chosen  by  the  Audiencia  to 
be  their  plenipotentiary  and  envoy  extra 
ordinary  to  sign  and  ratify  the  treaty  of 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    341 

peace.  Tlie  old  gentleman,  to  give  him 
self  and  his  mission  great  airs  of  im 
portance,  thought  proper  to  go  and  look 
for  Henriquillo  accompanied  by  a  squadron 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  armed  men. 
The  Cacique  was  notified  by  Las  Casas 
of  his  coming.  But  fearing  treachery  at 
the  hands  of  that  large  body  of  men, 
Henriquillo  thought  proper  to  make  the 
Spaniards  travel  for  several  days  over  the 
mountains  to  look  for  him  ;  and  having 
satisfied  himself  that,  tired  as  they  were 
and  hungry,  no  harm  could  be  done  by 
them  to  himself  and  his  men,  designated 
at  last  a  place  of  meeting.  This  was  a 
mountain  gorge  on  the  sides  of  which 
arose  two  rocky  perpendicular  cliffs,  the 
summits  of  which  were  within  easy 
speaking  distance  of  each  other. 

During  the  years  of  insurrection  there 
had  landed  on  the  southern  coast  of  Hi- 
spaniola  (how,  when,  or  why,  it  is  not 
said)  a  cargo  of  gold  from  the  continent, 
which  had  fallen  in  Henriquillo's  hands. 
He  agreed  to  deliver  the  precious  metal  to 
San  Miguel  at  a  certain  spot  on  the  sea 
shore,  where  he  caused  to  be  gathered  also 
an  abundance  of  provisions  and  some 
presents,  wherewith  to  entertain  the 
Spaniards.  To  that  place  the  meeting  on 


342    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

the  cliffs  (the  Indians  spoke  from  one  and 
the  Spaniards  answered  from  the  other) 
was  adjourned.  A  few  days  later  San 
Miguel  was  on  the  seashore  surrounded  by 
an  even  greater  military  contingent.  Hen- 
riquillo,  who  more  than  ever  feared  treach 
ery,  was  not  there  alleging  as  a  cause  for 
his  absence  an  indisposition.  His  men 
however  delivered  the  gold  to  the  Spaniards 
and  entertained  them  hospitably.  San 
Miguel  returned  to  San  Domingo  fully 
convinced  of  the  good  faith  of  the  Cacique, 
but  without  having  fully  accomplished  the 
object  of  his  mission.  This  happened  in 
1529.  It  was  only  three  years  later  that, 
through  a  second  mediation  of  Las  Casas, 
the  famous  Henriquillo  was  induced  to 
formally  acknowledge  the  sovereignty  of 
Spain  and  to  surrender.  The  reader  will 
be  told  how. 


CHAPTER  XVIV. 

Third  Voyage    of    Las    Casas   to   Spain   in 
Behalf  of  the  Indians. 

have  reached  the  year  1530.  The 
most  stirring  events  in  the  history  of 
the  American  continent  had  taken  place 
since  the  first  American  priest  had  donned 
the  white  habit  of  the  Dominicans.  Her- 
nando  Cortez  with  a  handful  of  followers 
had  landed  on  Mexican  soil,  and  with  the 
help  of  native  allies,  the  Tlascalans,  the 
traditional  enemies  of  the  Aztecs,  had  taken 
possession  of  the  ancient  empire  of  Monte- 
zuma  in  the  name  of  the  king  of  Spain. 
In  1530  the  standard  of  Charles  V.  floated 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  and  from 
northern  Mexico  to  Panama.  The  inhabit 
ants  of  this  empire,  as  large  as  the  half  of 
Europe,  had  been  Encomendados,  that  is 
partially  enslaved  by  the  Conquistadores. 
From  his  convent  of  Hispaniola  Las  Casas 
watched  the  current  of  events,  which 
threatened  the  extinction  of  the  native  race 
on  the  continent,  as  well  as  on  the  islands, 
but  was  powerless  to  stem  it. 

(343) 


344    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

Francisco  Pizarro  had  already  had  the 
first  glimpse  of  the  Peruvian  shores  and 
had  partly  heard  and  partly  guessed,  that 
beyond  them  lied  a  vast  and  rich  empire. 
In  1528  he  journeyed  to  Spain,  to  obtain 
on  the  Pacific  a  grant  similar  to  that 
which  L,as  Casas  had  obtained,  ten  years 
before,  on  the  Atlantic.  He  returned  to 
America  during  the  first  part  of  1530 
with  the  grant  of  the  viceroyalty  of  two 
hundred  leagues  of  coast  and  of  the  cor 
responding  interior,  which  he  hoped  to 
add  to  the  already  almost  limitless  do 
minions  of  the  Spanish  crown.  L,as 
Casas,  who  since  the  end  of  his  novitiate, 
had  kept  in  touch  with  the  doings  of  the 
Spanish  court,  and  with  the  epoch-making- 
events  that  followed  each  other  in  rapid 
succession  in  America,  thought  of  the 
natives  of  Peru,  and  decided  to  take  the 
necessary  steps  in  time  to  prevent  the 
poisonous  tree  of  the  Repartimientos  be 
ing  planted  on  Peruvian  soil.  With  the 
consent,  and  perhaps  by  the  command  of 
his  Dominican  superiors,  he  undertook  to 
cross  for  the  fifth  time  the  Atlantic  in 
behalf  of  the  Indians. 

Fonseca,  his  old  antagonist,  had  died, 
and  better  men  than  he  were  now  manag 
ing  Indian  affairs.  Within  less  than  six 


Life  oj  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    345 

months  lie  obtained  from  Charles  V.  the 
necessary  legislation  to  prevent  the  natives 
of  Peru  from  sharing  the  sad  fate  of 
those,  who  dwelt  in  New  Spain  or 
Mexico.  In  so  readily  obtaining  the  ob 
ject  of  his  journey  he  was  backed  by  the 
influential  Dominican  order,  many  of 
whose  members  occupied  the  highest  ec 
clesiastical  and  civil  dignities.  His  suc 
cessful  mediation  between  the  Audiencia 
of  San  Domingo  and  the  Cacique  Henri- 
quillo  must  also  have  added  to  his  in 
fluence  at  court.  He  had  proved  that  the 
old  Protector  of  the  Indians,  better  than 
any  one  else,  understood  the  character  of 
the  aboriginal  Americans,  and  their  needs. 
He  was  no  longer  a  simple  Clerigo,  but 
the  prior  of  a  Dominican  convent,  versed, 
not  only  as  before  in  canon  law  and 
jurisprudence,  but  in  moral  and  dogmatic 
theology.  The  courtiers,  his  old  friends, 
looked  upon  him  no  longer  as  the  simple 
and  untitled,  though  zealous  and  bold 
priest,  but  as  upon  the  holy  and  learned 
theologian  of  an  order,  who  counted  those 
among  its  many  thousand  members  by  the 
hundred,  who  taught  in  the  most  renowned 
universities,  sat  in  councils  of  state,  worked 
in  artists'  studios,  and  preached  in  the  most 
celebrated  pulpits  in  Christendom.  Al- 


346    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

though  young  in  his  religious  profession,  he 
was  already  favorably  and  prominently 
known  in  the  order.  While  in  Spain,  the 
first  American  priest  was  invited  more  than 
once  to  preach  to  the  court.  The  reader 
may  imagine  the  themes  of  his  sermons. 

L,as  Casas  returned  to  Hispaniola  with 
an  imperial  decree  addressed  to  Francisco 
Pizarro,  and  to  Almagro  his  partner,  for 
bidding  them  as  generals  of  the  expedition 
ary  forces  then  in  Peru,  and  their  inferior 
officers,  under  no  circumstance  or  for  any 
reason  whatever,  to  enslave  the  natives  of 
that  country.  They  were  also  forbidden  to 
parcel  them  into  Repartimientos ;  and  were 
commanded  to  allow  them  to  enjoy  their 
freedom  and  their  possessions  as  any  other 
free  vassal  of  the  king  in  Spain  or  else 
where. 

Las  Casas  returned  to  Hispaniola  at  the 
end  of  1530  or  during  the  early  part  of 
1531 ;  and  his  fellow  friars,  who  were  then 
holding  the  first  American  provincial 
chapter,  gave  him  a  hearty  welcome.  But 
the  most  trying  part  of  his  journey  was  yet 
to  be  made.  He  was  on  his  way  to  deliver 
to  Pizarro  and  Almagro  the  royal  decrees, 
which  he  had  brought  over  from  Spain. 

The  success  met  with  in  obtaining  them 
perhaps  inspired  him  with  new  hopes  of 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    347 

ultimately  accomplishing,  through,  the 
council  of  the  Indies,  for  all  the  Indians  in 
America,  what  he  had  obtained,  he  thought, 
for  those  of  Peru.  In  fact  it  appears,  that, 
during  the  short  time  he  spent  at  his  con 
vent  of  L,a  Plata  between  his  return  from 
Spain  and  his  setting  out  for  Peru,  he  ad 
dressed  a  memorial  to  the  councillors  dated 
the  6th  of  June,  1531.  It  is  a  forcible  and 
fearless  exposition  of  the  tyranny  and  op 
pression  of  the  American  natives,  and 
might  be  mistaken  for  an  apostolic  sermon 
preached  to  the  gentlemen,  who,  from  far 
away  Spain,  managed  and  sometime  mis 
managed  American  affairs.  It  covers 
twenty-two  octavo  pages  of  ordinary  print. 
I'll  give  of  it  only  the  opening  paragraph. 
"My  Lords.  Christian  charity,  which 
should  never  pause  or  rest  through  our  life 
pilgrimage,  zeal  for  the  house  of  God, 
and  the  sorrow  I  feel  in  witnessing  the 
wasting  away  of  his  majesty's  dominions 
(for  whose  service  God  knows  that  I  would 
not  shirk  any  labor  whatever)  have  spurred 
and  compelled  me  to  put  aside  other  occu 
pations,  in  order  to  write  to  your  lordships 
the  selfsame  things  which  I  labored  for  six 
consecutive  years  in  repeating  by  word  of 
mouth,  in  years  gone  by,  before  the  royal 
council,  of  which  some  of  you  were  then 


34$    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

members.  I  mean  the  endless  miseries, 
the  unspeakable  tyranny  under  which  the 
unhappy  heathen  people  of  these  yet  un 
explored  countries  have  been  groaning. 
Not  a  day  of  rest,  no  respite,  no  amelior 
ation  have  they  seen  ;  on  the  contrary  their 
sufferings  are  constantly  on  the  increase. 
As  I  have  done  in  the  past,  I  propose  to 
end  my  life's  journey,  even  to  give  it,  if 
occasion  offers,  in  attempting  to  find  a 
remedy  for  these  evils,  knowing  that  it 
would  be  but  a  small  price  to  be  paid  for 
what  I  ask.  I  am  likewise  impelled  to 
follow  my  course  by  the  numberless  trials, 
to  which  the  kingdoms  of  Spain  and  all 
Christendom  are  subject  to  in  these  troubl 
ous  times  of  ours.  Are  we  not  afflicted  by 
horrible  and  bloody  wars  and  other  intoler 
able  visitations?  Who  knows,  if  by  heal 
ing  the  wounds,  from  which  mankind  is 
bleeding  in  these  parts,  the  ailments  of  the 
entire  mystical  body  of  Christ  (the  church) 
would  not  be  healed?  .  .  .  .  " 

Father  Francisco  de  San  Miguel  was 
elected  prior  of  the  Dominican  convent  in 
the  City  of  Mexico  by  the  chapter  men 
tioned  above.  Las  Casas  sailed  for  Vera 
Cruz  in  his  company,  and,  on  his  arrival  at 
the  capital  of  New  Spain,  became  for  a 
time  the  guest  of  his  travelling  companion. 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    349 

Here  lie  liad  the  pleasure  of  meeting  once 
more  his  old  friend  Father  Domingo  de 
Betarizos,  who  had  passed  from  Hispaniola 
to  Mexico  in  1526.  Many  Dominicans  had 
by  this  time  settled  in  the  Indies,  and  in 
Mexico  alone  were  to  be  found  over  fifty 
professed  Fathers.  It  seems  that  the  new 
comers  were  not  all  made  of  the  same  metal 
as  those,  who  had  first  settled  in  Hispani 
ola  and  at  Chiribichi,  like  Father  Pedro  de 
Cordova,  Montesino,  Betanzos  etc.  In  fact 
on  the  arrival  of  the  new  prior  the  com 
munity  of  Mexico  City  received  him  coldly, 
and  much  dissatisfaction  developed  about 
his  election.  L,as  Casas,  during  his  first 
visit  to  Mexico,  employed  his  zeal  and  his 
fraternal  charity  in  smoothing  the  way  for 
Father  San  Miguel. 

By  the  end  of  1531  the  Protector  of  the 
Indians  must  have  heard  that  Pizarro  and 
Almagro  were  about  to  set  foot  on  Peruvian 
soil.  It  was  of  the  greatest  importance 
that  the  decrees,  forbidding  them  to  en 
slave  Indians,  should  reach  them,  before  an 
opportunity  be  afforded  them  of  engrafting 
the  poisonous  seed  of  the  Repartimientos 
on  the  empire.  L,as  Casas  therefore  lost 
no  time  in  setting  out  for  Central  America, 
whence  he  intended  to  sail  for  Peru.  He 
was  then  sixty  years  of  age.  L,et  the 


350    Life  oj  Bartolonid  de  Las  Casas. 

reader  reflect  on  what  a  journey  from 
Mexico  City  to  Nicaragua  meant  in  those 
days.  It  had  to  be  made  partly  on  horse 
back  and  partly  on  foot,  a  distance  of  about 
a  thousand  miles  ;  and  the  traveller's  sub- 
sistance  had  to  be  drawn  from  what  the 
natives  and  a  few  white  settlers  could  give 
him  here  and  there.  His  travelling  com 
panions  were  Father  Bernardino  de  Minaya, 
an  old  gentleman  venerated  and  highly 
thought  of  by  the  Dominicans,  and  a  young 
man,  just  ordained,  named  Pedro  de  An- 
gulo,  who,  for  quite  a  number  of  years  be 
came  Las  Casas'  companion  and  assistant. 
They  were  bound  for  the  Port  of  Realejo, 
now  known  as  Corinto,  in  Nicaragua,  and 
their  route  was  through  Santiago  de  los 
Caballeros,  the  first  capital  of  the  then  pro 
vince,  and  now  republic  of  Guatemala.  A 
Dominican  convent  had  been  built  there  a 
few  years  before,  but  it  had  been  aban 
doned.  The  three  travellers  lodged  in  it 
during  their  short  stay  in  the  town.  The 
entire  white  population  turned  out  to  meet 
and  to  welcome  them  headed  by  the  parish 
priest,  Francisco  Marroquin,  who,  three 
years  later,  became  the  first  bishop  of  Gua 
temala.  But  the  enthusiasm  of  the  plan 
ters  and  miners  abated  considerably,  when 
it  was  discovered  that  one  of  the  three 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.   351 

Dominicans  was  the  renowned  L,as  Casas, 
the  most  hated  man  in  America.  They 
were,  however,  begged  by  Father  Marro- 
quin,  who  might  be  called  the  father  of  the 
Church  in  Guatemala,  to  settle  there  and 
to  reopen  the  convent,  because  there  was  in 
those  parts  extreme  need  of  evangelical 
laborers.  But  their  important  mission  to 
Peru  precluded  their  accepting  the  invita 
tion.  Las  Casas  proceeded  to  the  Port  of 
Realejo,  where  a  ship  was  then  loading 
provisions  and  ammunition  destined  for  the 
Pizarros  in  Peru.  Breathing  not  a  word 
about  the  decrees  that  were  locked  in  his 
wallet,  for  fear  of  being  refused  passage,  if 
their  contents  were  known,  Las  Casas 
sailed  for  Tumbez  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  present  city  of  Guayaquil,  where  Piz- 
arro  and  Almagro  were  then  encamped. 


•c1^^j^;BLSnJBSW^r^^^i 
5—a|| 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
Las  Casas  in  Peru. 

He  returns  to  Nicaragua  and  founds  a  Dominican  Con 
vent;  then  goes  to  Hispaniola  and  back  to 
Nicaragua  and  thence  to  Guatemala. 

IN  1521  the  herald's  trumpet  had  sounded 
in  the  plaza  of  San  Domingo,  and  the 
public  crier  had  read  aloud  to  the  citizens 
the  decree  ordering  all  Indian  slaves  from 
the  continent  to  be  turned  over  to  their 
Protector,  who  was  to  embark  them  for  and 
set  them  free  in  their  native  countries.  But 
the  Indians'  shackles  were  not  then  broken, 
in  spite  of  the  decree  of  powerful  Charles 
V.  Pizarro's  little  army  is  now  on  parade 
at  Tumbez.  White  habited  L,as  Casas  ap 
proaches  and  produces  the  decrees  for 
bidding  the  enslavement  of  the  Peruvian 
natives.  The  herald's  trumpet  sounds 
again ;  the  will  of  the  Spanish  monarch  is 
proclaimed,  and  a  profession  of  obedience 
is  made  from  the  generals  down  to  the 
private  soldiers.  The  student  of  Peruvian 
history  knows  that  as  soon  as  a  serious 
effort  was  made  to  enforce  this,  and  other 

(352) 


Life  of  Barlolom&  de  Las  Casas.    353 

more  important  decrees  to  insure  the  free 
dom  of  the  Peruvians,  rebellion,  civil  war, 
and  anarchy  followed. 

Ivas  Casas'  object  in  going  to  Peru  was 
not  only  to  deliver  the  king's  decrees,  but 
also  to  found  a  Dominican  convent  in  that 
southern  country.  The  famous  Vicente 
Valverde  (who  subsequently  became  the 
first  bishop  of  Peru)  and  Father  Reginaldo 
de  Perazza  had  followed  the  expeditionary 
forces  of  Pizarro  and  Almagro  from  the 
beginning,  and  met  L,as  Casas  on  his  ar 
rival  at  Tuinbez.  The  five  Dominicans, 
L,as  Casas,  Pedro  de  Angulo,  Bernardino  de 
Minaya,  Vicente  Valverde  and  Reginaldo 
de  Perazza,  conferred  together  and  decided 
that  the  time  had  not  yet  come  to  build 
convents  in  Peru,  as  but  little  of  the  coun 
try  was  as  yet  in  possession  of  the  Spani 
ards,  and  the  Peruvians  showed  no  disposi 
tion  to  submit  to  them  without  war.  I^as 
Casas  therefore  and  his  two  companions 
availed  themselves  of  the  first  opportunity 
to  return  to  Nicaragua  where  I  find  them 
already  at  the  beginning  of  1532. 

Diego  Alvarez  de  Osorio  was  the  bishop 
of  the  extensive  new  diocese  of  L,eon  in 
Nicaragua ;  and  instructions  had  lately 
reached  him  from  Spain  authorizing  him  to 
establish  a  Dominican  convent  to  help  him 
23 


354    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

administer  his  vast  jurisdiction  and  evan 
gelize  trie  natives.  The  Nicaraguans,  ever 
since  the  advent  of  the  white  men  (in 
1524)  had  shown  a  disposition  to  embrace 
the  Christian  religion,  and  to  learn  its 
tenets.  The  emperors  of  Mexico  had,  in 
centuries  gone  by,  subjected  them  to  their 
rule,  and  had  introduced  the  Aztec  lan 
guage,  with  which  the  prominent  men  of 
the  country  were  now  acquainted.  It 
happened  that  Pedro  de  Angulo  had  famil 
iarized  himself  with  it,  during  his  several 
years'  residence  in  the  capital  of  Monte- 
zuma.  It  was  therefore  possible  to  enter 
at  once  into  relations  with  the  Indians,  and 
to  begin  the  work  of  evangelization.  At 
the  same  time  the  three  Dominicans  proved 
a  Godsend  to  the  bishop,  who  was  thus  en 
abled  to  carry  out  at  once,  and  without 
expense,  the  instructions  just  received  from 
Spain.  L,as  Casas  set  to  work  without 
delay  to  build  the  convent  of  St.  Paul  in 
the  episcopal  city  of  L,eon,  and  to  learn  the 
language  of  the  common  people  of  the 
country. 

We  must  now  return  from  the  Pacific  to 
the  Atlantic,  to  San  Domingo,  the  home, 
for  many  years,  of  Las  Casas.  Chief  Hen- 
riquillo  had  lived  peacefully  the  past  three 
years  in  his  mountains,  and  no  Spaniard 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    355 

had  been  harmed  either  by  him  or  his  fol 
lowers.  But  he  was  absolute  lord  of  his 
own  domains ;  neither  had  the  Audiencia 
•ever  thought  it  advisable  to  look  for  the 
lion  in  his  lair.  But  Charles  V.  was  not 
the  man  to  tolerate  an  imperium  in  imperio. 
Every  man  within  his  dominions  must  be 
made  to  acknowledge  him  as  his  liege-lord. 
A  certain  licenciado  Cerrato  had  lately  ar 
rived  from  Spain  to  succeed  Fuenleal,  as 
chief  justice  or  president  of  the  Audiencia. 
One  of  his  first  cares  was  to  devise  means 
to  induce  Henriquillo  to  formally  acknow 
ledge  the  sovereignty  of  the  Spanish  crown. 
The  history  of  the  past  fifteen  years  had 
convinced  the  licenciado  that  the  object  in 
view  might  best  be  accomplished  by  peace 
ful  ways.  He  therefore  wrote  to  Las  Casas 
ordering  him  to  come  at  once  to  Hispani- 
ola,  because  the  king's  service  required  his 
presence  there. 

The  Protector  of  the  Indians  left  the 
works  of  the  Missions  and  the  building 
of  St.  Paul's  convent  in  charge  of  de 
Minaya  and  of  some  other  Fathers,  who 
had  lately  arrived  in  Nicaragua,  and  set 
out  to  traverse  the  American  continent  a 
second  time,  on  his  way  to  Hispaniola. 
His  way,  however,  was  not  this  time 
through  Mexico,  but  through  Honduras, 


356    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

on  the  Atlantic  coast  of  which,  either  at 
Port  Caballo  or  Trujillo,  a  ship  had  been 
dispatched  by  licenciado  Cerrato  to  fetch 
him  to  San  Domingo.  On  his  arrival 
there,  he  was  given  a  hearty  welcome,  very 
unlike  the  one  they  had  given  him  when, 
as  a  Clerigo,  he  was  about  to  start  for  Cu- 
mana.  Cerrato  had  called  L,as  Casas  to 
Hispaniola  principally  to  ask  him  to  use 
again  his  good  offices  with  Henriquillo  to 
induce  him  to  submit  peacefully  to  the 
sovereignty  of  the  king.  A  second  time 
we  see  the  Protector  of  the  Indians  climbing 
the  mountains  in  the  company,  this  time, 
of  Father  de  Angulo,  to  look  for  the  out 
lawed  chief.  He  made  quite  a  stay  with 
him,  and  two  months  had  past  before  a 
word  was  heard  of  him  in  San  Domingo. 
The  judges  of  the  Audiencia  had  begun  to 
feel  uneasy,  lest  his  mission  had  failed,  and 
harm  been  done  to  him  and  his  companion ; 
when  one  day  he  made  his  appearance  un 
heralded  in  the  city,  in  the  company  of 
Henriquillo  himself.  The  same  people 
who  for  years  had  hated  and  dreaded  the 
Cacique,  now  received  him  as  it  were  in 
triumph,  and  feasted  him  for  several  days. 
This  episode  in  the  life  of  the  first  Amer 
ican  priest  ended  with  his  accompanying 
Henriquillo  to  the  offices  of  the  Audiencia, 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    357 

where  all  the  promises  and  guarantees,  pre 
viously  given  by  Las  Casas,  were  solemnly 
confirmed  and  ratified.  To  the  credit  of 
the  Audiencia  they  were  kept  faithfully. 
Henriquillo  was  allowed  to  retire  to  the 
pueblos  over  which  his  ancestors  had  ruled 
as  lords  of  their  tribe,  and  the  best  of  feel 
ings  existed  ever  after  between  the  king's 
officers  of  San  Domingo  and  the  Indian 
chief.  Strange  to  say,  the  latter  became  a 
warm  supporter  of  Spanish  rule  in  his 
country. 

We  have  reached  the  end  of  A.  D.  1533. 
The  news  of  Pizarro's  conquest  of  an  em 
pire  as  large  as  that  of  Mexico  and  richer 
beyond  comparison,  had  been  received  in 
San  Domingo,  and  the  name  of  the  in 
trepid  and  lucky  conquistador  was  on 
everybody's  lips.  L,as  Casas'  mission  in 
Hispaniola  having  been  happily  accom 
plished,  he  must  start  for  the  southern  Kl- 
dorado,  attracted,  not  by  the  shining  metal, 
but  by  a  burning  zeal  for  the  salvation  of 
souls.  He  must  be  there  and  see  for  him 
self,  if  the  decrees  of  Charles  V.  guaran 
teeing  the  freedom  of  the  natives  were 
faithfully  observed.  Cerrato  and  the  San 
Dominguians  provided  him  with  every 
thing  necessary  to  the  long  journey.  As 
the  idea  of  establishing  Dominican  con- 


358   Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

vents  in  Pern  liad  never  been  abandoned 
but  only  postponed,  before  leaving  Hispa- 
niola  Las  Casas  petitioned  for  some  Fathers, 
who  shonld  become  the  first  apostles  of 
Peru.  The  request  was  granted  ;  and  four 
priests  sailed  with  him,  one  of  whom  was 
iLuis  Cancer,  favorably  known,  not  only 
for  his  sanctity,  but  for  the  important  ser 
vices  he  had  heretofore  rendered  his  order. 
If  their  route  was  through  Mexico  and 
Guatemala,  or,  as  appears  more  probable, 
by  the  way  of  Honduras,  is  not  clear.  But 
by  the  middle  of  1534  we  find  Las  Casas 
again  in  the  convent  of  St.  Paul  in  Leon, 
Nicaragua.  He  was  then  busy  making 
preparations  for  his  voyage  to  Peru.  In 
charge  of  St.  Paul's  convent  he  left  three 
of  the  four  Fathers,  who  had  come  with 
him  from  Hispaniola,  and  selected  as  his 
travelling  companions  Luis  Cancer  and 
Pedro  de  Angulo.  By  this  time  Panama 
had  become  a  busy  port,  through  which 
and  the  isthmus  of  the  same  name  com 
munication  was  kept  open  between  the 
Pacific  and  the  Atlantic,  .between  Central 
America,  Peru  and  Hispaniola  and  Europe. 
It  naturally  had  also  become  a  sort  of 
entrepot  and  shipping  point  for  goods  and 
men  to  and  from  the  Pacific  coast.  Oppor 
tunities  for  travelling  from  Panama  to  Peru 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    359 

were  not  wanting,  but  several  months 
would  sometimes  intervene  between  the 
sailing  of  one  and  another  ship  from  the 
port  of  Realejo  for  Panama.  A  very  small 
vessel  was,  however,  about  to  make  the 
passage,  and  the  three  friars  sailed  on  it. 
The  tiny  craft  fought  for  days  and  weeks 
against  the  powerful  currents  of  those  seas, 
and  the  crew  was  undecided  between  en 
deavoring  to  force  their  way  to  Panama 
and  returning  to  Realejo.  It  was  agreed  to 
let  chance  reconcile  their  differences  of 
opinion.  Lots  were  drawn  and  blind  for 
tune  decided  that  they  should  proceed  on 
their  way  to  Panama.  But  storms  com 
pelled  them  to  return  at  last  to  Realejo. 
Las  Casas'  earliest  biographer,  Antonio 
Remesal,  tells  us  that,  in  his  Historia  de 
las  Indias  (in  that  part  of  it  which  is  lost 
to  us)  the  Protector  of  the  Indians  describes 
pathetically  the  frightful  sufferings,  which 
he  and  his  companions  had  to  undergo 
during  that  second  futile  attempt  to  establish 
a  convent  in  Peru.  From  Realejo  they  made 
their  way  back  to  the  convent  of  St.  Paul 
in  Leon.  Meanwhile  Marroquin,  who  had 
just  been  made  bishop,  had  heard  of  Las 
Casas'  disastrous  expedition  to  Peru,  and 
wrote  him  a  long  letter  representing  how 
his  vast  diocese  was  almost  destitute  of 


360    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

evangelical  laborers,  it  having  within  its 
confines  but  one  other  priest  besides  him 
self.  At  the  same  time,  said  he,  there 
stood  in  his  episcopal  city  of  Santiago  de 
los  Caballeros  a  Dominican  convent  already 
built,  but  deserted,  while  the  province  of 
Nicaragua  suffered  from  no  such  dearth  of 
priests  or  friars.  The  letter  ended  by  in 
viting  L,as  Casas  and  earnestly  begging 
him,  now  that  two  attempts  at  establishing 
Dominican  convents  in  Peru  had  failed,  to 
come  to  Guatemala  and  become  his  co- 
laborer  in  the  evangelization  of  that  impor 
tant  province.  The  first  American  priest, 
who  had  learned  to  appreciate  the  earnest 
character  of  the  Guatemalan  prelate  during 
his  first  visit  to  his  episcopal  city,  could 
not  resist  so  reasonable  an  appeal.  In 
company  again  of  Luis  Cancer  and  Pedro 
de  Angulo  he  left  Nicaragua  and  set  out 
for  Guatemala,  arriving  there  about  the 
first  of  January  1535. 


••-A  ' 


CHAPTER  XX. 
Las  Casas  in  Guatemala. 

JN  Santiago  de  los  Caballeros  the  three 
famous  Dominicans  were  again  com 
pelled  to  learn  an  entirely  new  language, 
the  Quiche.  It  was  radically  different 
from  the  Aztec,  but  happily  bishop  Mar- 
roquin,  who  had  mastered  it,  had  already 
composed  a  grammar  and,  under  his  di 
rection,  the  friars  soon  learned  it  suf 
ficiently  to  communicate  with  the  natives. 
L,as  Casas  remained  in  Guatemala  the 
whole  year  of  1535  and  the  best  portion  of 
1536.  The  Indians  thereabout  were  in 
telligent,  docile  and  easily  amenable  to 
the  Christian  religion.  The  friars '  time 
was  divided  between  ministering  to  the 
Spanish  settlements,  and  evangelizing  the 
natives.  During  his  residence  in  Guate 
mala  L,as  Casas  wrote  his  short  treaty 
called  De  Unico  Vocationis  Modo.  As  the 
title  of  it  shows,  it  treats  of  the  method 
to  be  employed  in  converting  the  Indians. 
It  never  was  printed  and  no  copy  is  now 
known  to  exist.  But  Remesal  preserved 

(361) 


362    Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

for  us  quite  a  lengthy  extract  in  its  origi 
nal  Latin.  He  says  of  *the  work:  "The 
same  father  Bartolome  de  L,as  Casas  had 
also,  some  years  before,  written  a  book 
which  he  entitled  De  Uhico  Vocationis 
ModOy  in  which  he  proved  that  through 
the  redemption  of  Christ  Our  I,ord  and 
Head  of  the  Church,  all  those  who  were 
predestinated  of  all  nations  and  tribes, 
were  to  be  called  and  invited  into  one 
body ;  that  no  nation  in  the  whole  world 
had  been  excluded  from  participation  in 
the  effects  of  redemption ;  and  that  out  of 
every  nation  some  individuals,  many  or 
few,  are  in  fact  predestined  to  eternal 
life.  It  followed  that  this  doctrine  must 
be  understood  as  applying  to  the  people 
of  the  new  world.  He  proved  next  that 
the  multitude,  gravity  and  turpitude  of 
the  sins  either  of  a  whole  people,  or  of 
individuals  do  not  constitute  an  evidence 
of  their  not  being  predestined  even  if 
they  intend  to  persevere  in  their  sins,  and 
although  they  be  found  to  be  naturally 
fickleminded,  lazy,  vain,  timid,  untruth 
ful,  inconstant,  fierce  and  cruel.  Further 
more  it  is  not  possible  that  a  whole 
nation,  people,  city,  or  village  be  possessed 
of  so  little  intelligence  as  not  to  be  able 
to  receive  the  gospel,  although  it  be  true 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    363 

that  the  natural  intelligence  of  one  people 
is  superior  to  that  of  another.  He  showed 
that  necessarily  the  same  difference  existed 
among  the  many  different  peoples  of  the 
Indies,  but  that  they  were  generally  in 
telligent  above  the  average  of  mankind, 
and  that,  if  any  were  found  deficient  in 
this  respect,  they  were  in  a  very  small 
minority  .... 

They  are  temperate  in  eating  and  drink 
ing,  and  because  they  trouble  themselves 
little  about  temporal  affairs,  and  live  an 
easy-going  life,  the  passions,  which  cause 
sorrow  and  unhappiness,  are  not  ab 
normally  developed  in  them.  They  are 
ingenious  and  skilful  in  the  mechanical 
arts,  and  much  of  their  handiwork  is  a 
cause  of  wonder  to  the  white  man.  They 
have  already  given  signs  of  their  pro 
ficiency  in  the  fine  arts. 

He  writes  next  and  explains  the  only 
natural  way  by  which  the  predestined 
ones  must  be  called  to,  and  brought  over 
to  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ,  Our  lyorcl, 
and  to  the  Christian  religion,  which  cal 
ling  is  incipient  predestination  itself. 
His  thesis  was :  The  one  and  only  way 
appointed  by  divine  providence  to  teach 
men  the  true  religion,  is  that  which, 
through  reason,  convinces  the  intellect, 


364    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

and  through  kindness  and  charity,  moves 
the  will.  This  applies  to  all  men  irre 
spective  of  their  religious  errors  and  their 
moral  corruption.  He  proves  his  thesis  in 
thirty-six  long  paragraphs,  ist  by  natural 
reason,  2d  by  the  examples  of  the  Holy 
Fathers  of  the  old  and  of  the  new  testament, 
3d  by  the  examples  of  Christ  himself,  Our 
Redeemer,  4th  by  the  precepts  he  gave  to 
his  apostles,  as  to  how  they  should  preach 
the  gospel,  5th  by  the  examples  of  the 
apostles,  6th  by  the  weighty  authority  of 
the  doctors  of  the  Church,  yth  by  the 
practice  of  the  primitive  Church,  8th  by  the 
decrees  of  many  of  the  Roman  pontiffs. 

Then  in  eight  other  paragraphs  he  paints, 
in  the  same  elegant  and  eloquent  style,  the 
opposite  method  of  spreading  the  gospel  by 
compelling  converts  to  accept  the  faith  by 
force  of  arms.  In  the  two  last  paragraphs 
he  lays  down  the  following  conclusion 
founded  on  the  authority  of  God  and  man  : 

Wars  waged  against  the  heathen  to  sub 
ject  them  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  Christians 
in  order  that  they  may  be  prepared  to  ac 
cept  the  faith  and  the  Christian  religion, 
or,  in  other  words,  in  order  to  remove  the 
obstacles  that  prevent  them  from  accepting 
it,  are  rash,  of  doubtful  efficacy,  wicked,  and 
tyrannical." 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    365 

It  may  be  said  with  truth  that  all  the 
writings  of  Las  Casas,  which  are  very 
voluminous,  have  the  same  object  in  view, 
namely  to  prove  directly  or  indirectly  the 
foregoing  conclusion,  and  the  proposition 
that  naturally  follows  from  it,  that  the  en 
slavement  of  the  Indians  by  means  of  Re- 
partimientos  or  otherwise,  is  unjust  and 
tyrannical.  Not  unlikely  the  preparation 
of  De  Unico  Vocationis  Modo  was  begun 
by  the  author  as  early  as  1528  or  1530 
while  he  was  prior  of  the  convent  of  La 
Plata,  in  Hispaniola.  Certain  it  is  that  the 
themes  of  his  sermons  there  consisted  fre 
quently  in  inveighing  against  the  wars  that 
were  constantly  waged  against  the  natives, 
and  in  defense  of  their  liberty.  From 
Remesal  it  is  known  that  Las  Casas  had 
put  in  writing  his  ideas  concerning  the  con 
version  and  government  of  the  Indians  in 
1530;  and  this  biographer  takes  it  for 
granted  that  said  ideas  had  been  suggested 
to  the  council  of  the  Indies  in  a  memorial 
presented  during  that  year,  while  the  Pro 
tector  of  the  Indians  was  in  Spain.  The 
good  seed  planted  then  was  at  last  about 
to  bear  fruit. 

About  the  middle  of  A.  D.  1536  there 
arrived  at  Santiago  de  los  Caballeros  a 
royal  decree  concerning  the  conversion  and 


366    Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

government  of  the  Indians.  It  gave  minute 
instructions  as  to  how  many  and  what  days 
were  by  them  to  be  kept  holy  ;  on  how 
many  and  what  days  the  converts  should 
fast,  and  what  religious  observances  they 
should  practice.  *) 

The  Spaniards  of  Guatemala  were,  no 
doubt,  familiar  with  the  notions  of  L,as 
Casas  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  of  the 
Repartimientos.  Some  of  them  must  even 
have  read  circulating  copies  of  his  De  Unico 
Vocationis  Modo.  But  they  looked  upon 
them  as  preposterous  and  impractical 
theories  of  a  pious  but  fanatical  friar.  They 
smiled  and  indulged  in  an  occasional  joke 
at  the  expense  of  good  Fray  Bartolome,  and 
continued  to  deal  with  the  natives  as  if  they 
were  scarcely  human  beings.  Among  them 
were  many  well  meaning  men,  like  the 
thousands  of  well  meaning  men,  who,  less 
than  a  century  ago,  saw  no  harm  in  buying, 
for  so  much  cash,  black  human  flesh  just 


j  *)  While  travelling  in  Southern  Mexico  some 
years  ago,  the  writer  noticed,  posted  prominently  at 
the  entrance  of  several  country  churches,  and 
printed  in  large  type,  a  catalogue  of  feasts  and  fast 
days  to  be  observed  by  the  aboriginals,  with  along 
side  of  it  a  longer  one  of  the  feasts  and  fast  days  to 
be  kept  by  the  whites.  I  did  not  know  then  that 
the  difference  in  these  church  laws  originated  with 
the  first  American  priest. 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    367 

landed  on  the  streets  of  New  Orleans  or 
Charleston  from  the  coasts  of  Africa. 

But  when  the  decree  arrived  from  Spain, 
commanding  that  serious  efforts  should  be 
made,  by  the  settlers  in  general,  to  convert 
the  Indians  into  citizens  and  Christians,  it 
caused  no  little  commotion  in  the  colony, 
especially  because  it  was  known  that  the 
bishop  (at  that  time)  and  practically  all 
the  clergy  were  of  one  mind  on  the  subject. 
The  decree  was  on  everybody's  lips  and 
much  criticism  was  indulged  in  against  Las 
Casas,  who  was  known  to  have  been  the 
prime  mover  in  bringing  the  visionary 
theory  into  vogue.  They  bandied  with 
and  challenged  him  to  convert  the  red  man 
with  nothing  better  than  words  and  holy 
exhortations.  Surely,  they  said  to  him,  if 
you  be  in  earnest,  do  not  fail  to  undertake 
a  task  that  promises  so  much  for  the  honor 
and  glory  of  God  and  of  his  Church,  and  so 
much  credit  to  yourself.  If  you  succeed, 
we  shall  acknowledge  ourselves  unjust 
soldiers,  lay  down  our  arms,  free  the 
Indians,  and  make  restitution  of  what  we 
have  acquired  by  war.  A  secret  conviction 
lurked  in  the  minds  of  some  of  them,  that, 
should  the  friar  make  the  attempt,  he  would 
either  fail  or  pay  with  his  life  for  his  fool- 
hardiness  and  rashness.  In  either  case  they 


368    Life  ofBartoloin&  de  Las  Casas. 

would  be  freed  from  the  meddling  censor 
,who  could  no  longer  pester  them  with  his 
sermons  and  pamphlets.  The  first  Ameri 
can  priest  did  not  hesitate  to  pick  the 
gauntlet  thrown  at  his  feet.  There  was, 
not  far  from  Santiago  de  los  Caballeros, 
the  land  of  ivar.  It  was  a  mountainous 
country  cut  up  by  deep  canons  and  pre 
cipitous  ravines,  which  were  easily  turned 
into  raging  torrents  by  the  almost  daily 
tropical  rains.  Although  all  the  surround 
ing  country  had  been  pacified,  and  made  to 
acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  the  Spanish 
rulers,  and  although  three  attempts  had 
been  made  by  governor  Maldonado  to  pene 
trate  and  subdue  those  regions,  they  had 
all  ended  in  failure,  and  the  hardy  mount 
aineers  continued  to  defy  Castilian  valor 
and  the  power  of  Charles  V.  Hence  the 
name  land  of  war. 

Las  Casas  proffered  to  convert  that  land 
of  war  to  the  gospel  and  to  the  allegiance 
of  the  Spanish  crown.  He  asked  for  no 
soldiers  or  arms  to  protect  him,  he  asked 
for  no  royal  aid,  even  to  procure  the  neces 
saries  of  life,  during  the  work  of  evangeliz 
ation,  provided  that  sufficient  guarantees 
be  given  him  that,  when  the  Indians  of  the 
land  of  war  should  have  been  converted  and 
submitted  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  Span- 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    369 

iards,  tliey  should  be  for  ever  left  in  pos 
session  of  their  liberty  and  of  their  lands, 
and  granted  the  benefits  of  home  rule. 
These  guarantees  were  cheerfully  given  by 
governor  Maldonado,  whose  previous  con 
duct  had  pointed  him  out  as  one  of  the 
most  humane  of  the  Conquistadores.  They 
are  contained  in  the  following  articles  of 
agreement,  called  by  Las  Casas  a  capitu- 
lacion,  which  bore  the  signature  and  seal  of 
the  governor  and  was  preserved  to  posterity 
by  the  Protector  of  the  Indians  himself. 

"If  you,  or  any  of  the  friars  here  present, 
namely  Father  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas, 
Rodrigo  de  Ladrada  *  )  and  Pedro  de  Angulo 
shall  by  your  care  and  industry  induce  the 
Indians  of  any  province  or  parts  thereof 
within  the  limits  of  my  jurisdiction  to  peace 
and  to  recognize  his  majesty  as  their  lord, 
and  to  pay  him  moderate  tributes  according 
to  their  means  and  wealth,  in  gold,  if  it  be 
found  in  their  country,  or  in  cotton,  maize 
or  other  produce  or  merchandise  ;  I  say  and 
promise  and  give  my  word  of  honor  in  the 
name  of  the  king  and  in  virtue  of  the 
powers  he  gave  me  that :  I  will  leave  them 

*)  Father  Ladrada  had  come  from  Peru  to  Guate 
mala  a  short  time  before.  The  reader  will  see  how 
he  remained  the  constant  companion  of  Las  Casas 
from  the  year  1536  to  the  time  of  the  latter's  death 
in  1563. 


37°    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

and  tlieir  countries  subject  only  to  his 
majesty,  whom  alone  they  shall  have  to 
serve  as  free  vassals,  and  that  I  shall  not 
give  them  to  any  person  whatever  or  parcel 
them  out  into  Repartimientos  for  the  benefit 
of  any  Spaniard,  now  or  at  any  future  time. 
I  will  also  forbid,  under  severe  penalties, 
any  Spaniard  from  molesting  them  and 
from  going  to  their  countries  for  the  next 
five  years  to  come  ;  and  this  in  order  that 
no  disturbance  or  scandal  may  take  place 
while  you  will  be  engaged  in  their  con 
version.  I  alone  will  be  permitted  to  visit 
them,  with  your  permission,  and  in  your 
company.  I  desire  to  fulfill  the  will  of 
God  in  this  matter,  and  that  of  his  majesty 
the  king,  and  to  help  you  as  far  as  lies  in 
my  power  in  the  labors  which  you  will 
have  to  undergo  in  bringing  them  to  the 
knowledge  of  God  and  to  the  service  of  his 
majesty  ....'* 

Bishop-elect  Marroquin  had  gone  to  the 
city  of  Mexico  to  be  consecrated.  The  ar 
ticles  of  agreement  were  sent  there  to  be 
approved  by  him  as  the  ordinary  of  the 
diocese,  and  to  be  approved  also  by  the 
viceroy  of  New  Spain,  that  they  might  have 
additional  binding  force.  Meanwhile  the 
Fathers  set  to  work  to  prepare  themselves 
for  their  difficult  task.  A  spiritual  retreat, 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    371 

spent  in  fast  and  prayer,  was  first  made  by 
the  whole  community,  to  implore  light  and 
help  from  God.  Then  lenghty  consulta 
tions  took  place  to  decide  on  the  ways  and 
the  means  of  evangelizing  the  land  of  war. 
The  catechism  in  the  Quiche  language  was 
given  a  poetical  garb,  it  being  arranged  in 
couplets  from  beginning  to  end.  The 
verses  were  then  set  to  music,  as  it  had 
been  noticed  that  the  Indians  of  Central 
America  had  a  special  fondness  of  rhyth 
mical  songs.  The  first  couplet  told  of  the 
creation  of  the  world  and  of  man ;  another 
of  the  fall  of  Adam  and  Kve,  another  of  the 
Redemption.  The  life  of  Our  Lord  was 
treated  in  plain  but  attractive  language. 
In  a  word,  a  short  but  complete  exposition 
of  Christian  doctrine  was  for  the  first  time 
set  to  music. 

The  mountaineers  of  the  land  of  war 
were  paying  dear  for  their  independence, 
isolated  and  almost  besieged  as  they  were, 
in  their  mountain  homes.  They  could  no 
longer,  as  they  did  before  the  advent  of 
the  white  man,  descend  to  the  neighboring 
pueblos  of  the  plains,  neither  could  they 
buy,  sell  or  barter  with  the  Spaniards,  who 
surrounded  them.  All  the  old  avenues  of 
commerce  had  been  shut  up.  Some  In 
dians  of  Santiago  saw  in  the  misfortunes  of 


372    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

the  land  of  war  an  opportunity  for  making 
a  few  honest  dollars.  Four  of  them,  who 
were  already  Christians,  had  turned  pedd 
lers  and  made  regular  trips  to  the  pueblos 
on  the  mountains,  going  loaded  with  the 
produce  of  the  plains  and  returning  with 
those  from  the  higher  latitudes. 

L,as  Casas  and  his  companions  decided 
that  the  travelling  merchants  should  open 
for  them  a  wTay  to  the  land  of  war ;  and 
succeeded  to  interest  the  quartette  in  the 
project  of  evangelizing  their  countrymen. 
The  peddling  excursions  were  suspended 
for  a  while,  and  the  four  Guatemalan 
Christians  took  lodgings  in  the  cells  of  the 
Dominican  convent.  I  imagine  the  first 
American  priest  sitting  with  his  four  pupils 
and  helping  them  to  memorize  one  by  one, 
the  catechetical  couplets,  and  I  hear  him 
sing  with  them  for  hours  at  a  time.  Hap 
pily  the  Central  American  natives  were 
found  endowed  with  retentive  memories, 
while  they  were  withal  a  poetical  and 
musical  people.  The  novelty  of  the  rhyth- 
*  mical  cadences  and  the  simple  melodies 
exercised  so  powerful  an  attraction  on 
them,  as  to  make  the  scholars  throw  their 
hearts  and  souls  in  their  work  and  in  their 
study.  They  must  also  have  felt  no  little 
pride  in  being  able  to  speak  and  to  sing 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    373 

tlie  poetry  and  tlie  music  of  tlie  wliite  men. 
It  was  to  be,  not  vocal  only,  but  instrumen 
tal  music  as  well.  It  had  been  noticed 
that  the  native  Guatemalans  played  on  in 
struments  of  their  own  invention  with  con 
siderable  skill. 

Naturally  the  negotiations  with  the  gov 
ernor,  the  retreat,  the  long  course  of  cate 
chetical  instructions,  and  the  music  les 
sons,  required  much  time,  and  it  was 
August  1537  before  the  four  peddlers  could 
be  got  ready  to  start  for  the  land  of  war. 
Besides  their  packs  of  ordinary  goods  of 
the  country,  L,as  Casas  took  care  to  give 
them  another  full  of  Castilian  trifles,  ex 
tremely  attractive  to  the  Indians,  such  as 
scissors,  knives,  timbrels,  little  looking 
glasses,  etc.  From  the  peddlers  the 
Fathers  had  informed  themselves  very 
carefully  of  the  social,  moral  and  political 
conditions  of  that  wild  country.  They 
learned,  for  example,  that  of  all  the 
caciques  and  petty  chiefs,  there  was  one, 
who  exercised  a  controlling  influence  over 
the  others.  Nothing  of  importance  was 
ever  undertaken  in  all  Tuzulutlan  (this 
was  the  Indian  name  of  the  land  of  war) 
without  his  consent.  It  was  owing  especi 
ally  to  the  astuteness  of  that  fearless  war 
rior  that  the  several  attempts  of  the  Spani- 


374    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

ards  to  subjugate  the  province  had  failed. 
For  these  reasons  and  because  his  home 
was  nearer  the  frontiers  of  civilization  than 
that  of  any  other  important  chief,  the  com 
mercial  evangelists  were  directed  by  the 
Fathers  to  endeavor  to  attract  his  attention 
first,  and  to  gain  his  good  will. 

The  apostles  in  the  garb  of  merchants 
arrived  safely  in  Tuzulutlaii,  and  displayed 
their  wares  near  the  court  or  wigwam  of 
the  chief,  whom  Las  Casas  did  not  hesitate 
to  call  a  native  prince.  The  news  that 
goods,  never  seen  before,  were  for  sale 
fetched  quite  a  large  number  of  customers, 
and  business  proved  so  good  that  the  pedd 
lers,  after  closing  hours,  could  afford  to 
make  a  handsome  present  to  the  cacique. 

A  frugal  meal  had  been  partaken  of,  and 
the  tropical  moon  was  shooting  her  rays 
through  the  feathery  foliage  of  a  gigantic 
tree,  round  which  were  squatted  on  the 
ground  hundreds  of  fierce  warriors.  One 
of  the  peddlers  calls  for  a  -templanaste  (a 
native  instrument),  a  second  draws  out  of 
his  wallet  a  pair  of  castanets,  another  a  pair 
of  small  cymbals  and  the  last  a  timbrel,  and 
the  quartet  began  to  sing,  accompanying 
their  own  music.  The  first  lay  told  of  the 
creation  of  the  world.  When  more  music 
was  called  for,  the  creation  of  man  was 
given. 


Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    375 

Nothing  like  it  had  ever  Deen  heard  in 
all  Tuzulutlan.  I  need  not  say  it,  the 
catechism  class  lasted  until  late  in  the 
night.  The  audience  were  enraptured  and 
enthused  not  by  the  strains  of  music  only, 
but  especially  by  the  wonderful  tale  of 
Paradise  and  of  Redemption.  The  musi 
cians  were  invited  to  give  another  concert 
the  following  night. 

Before  sunset  men,  women  and  children 
were  seen  issuing  forth  from  their  wigwams 
perched  on  the  neighboring  summits  and 
gather  from  many  miles  around  to  hear 
the  strange  music  and  stranger  history 
of  man's  origin  and  destiny,  which  the 
minstrels  had  played  and  sung  the  night 
before.  The  attraction  was  repeated  to  a 
much  larger  audience,  many  of  whom  had 
pondered  all  day  long  on  the  meaning  of 
what  the  songs  had  taught  them.  When 
the  performance  came  to  a  close,  the 
cacique,  who  had  listened  in  speechless 
astonishment,  asked  for  an  explanation  of 
the  lesson  taught  by  the  poetry  and  the 
music. 

"That  we  cannot  do,"  answered  the 
peddlers  ;  "we  have  given  you  all  we  had. 
The  Fathers  alone,  down  in  the  white 
men's  pueblo,  can  give  the  explanation." 
Of  course  everybody  wished  to  know 


376    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

who  tlie  Fathers  were.  "They  are  men 
who  live  without  wives,  possess  nothing 
of  their  own,  live  together  in  one  house, 
within  which  no  woman  ever  enters.  Their 
principal  business  is  to  do  good  to  others 
and  teach  the  people  the  way  to  Heaven. 
Their  habit  is  white  and  over  it  they  wear 
sometimes  a  black  mantle.  Their  heads 
are  shaved,  and  only  a  few  locks  are  left  to 
grow  around  the  head.  Should  you  wish 
to  hear  an  explanation  of  what  we  sung, 
they  will  take  pleasure  to  come  and  give  it 
to  you.  Nor  need  you  fear  from  them,  for 
they  are  very  different  from  all  the  other 
longbearded  white  men  hereabout.  On  the 
contrary  they  are  the  friends  and  the  Pro 
tectors  of  the  Indians. " 

Curiosity  was  aroused,  and  it  was  agreed 
between  the  peddlers  and  the  cacique  that 
the  latter 's  brother,  a  youth  some  twenty- 
two  years  old,  would  accompany  them  to 
the  white  people's  pueblo,  and  invite  the 
friars  to  come  to  Tuzulutlan  to  give  an  ex 
planation  of  their  strange  religion.  The 
real  object,  however,  of  the  astute  chief  in 
sending  his  brother  to  Santiago  was  to 
ascertain  if  the  peddlers  had  told  him  the 
truth  about  the  Fathers.  Some  presents, 
out  of  what  the  land  afforded,  were  got  to 
gether  and  the  young  man  was  dispatched 
with  his  four  companions. 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    377 

His  arrival  was  a  cause  of  surprise  and 
gratification  to  every  Spaniard  in  the  settle 
ment.  The  friars  received  the  young  man 
with  unspeakable  joy,  as  his  request  and 
invitation  to  visit  his  people  was  an  un 
mistakable  sign  that  their  labors  of  the  past 
two  years  had  not  been  in  vain,  but  prom 
ised,  on  the  contrary,  abundant  fruits  in 
the  near  future.  The  cacique's  brother 
remained  a  few  days  the  guest  of  the  Dom 
inicans,  watching  their  every  movement  in 
order  to  make  an  intelligent  report  about 
their  manner  o.f  life,  and  to  ascertain  if  it 
really  corresponded  with  the  description 
given  by  the  four  minstrels. 

After  a  consultation  among  themselves, 
and  after  further  imploring  divine  assist 
ance,  the  friars  decided  that  Father  L,uis 
Cancer,  who,  of  them  all,  was  the  most 
proficient  in  the  common  language  of  the 
country,  should  accompany  their  guest  to 
his  home  and  there  study,  on  the  spot,  its 
conditions  and  the  dispositions  of  the 
people.  Loaded  with  presents  for  himself 
and  for  his  kinsmen,  the  youthful  ambas 
sador,  with  Father  Cancer  as  his  travelling 
companion,  made  his  way  back  to  the  land 
of  war,  to  which  he  had  dispatched  couriers 
to  notify  his  brother  of  his  coming.  Father 
Cancer  found  the  approaches  to  Tuzulutlan 


378    Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

lined  with,  arches  and  bowers  of  green 
foliage,  and  the  road  itself  levelled  and 
swept.  There  was  general  rejoicing  among 
the  tribesmen  at  his  coming.  Imagine  the 
feeling  of  the  apostle.  Perhaps  the  green 
bowers  reminded  him  of  Palm  Sunday  and 
the  Hosamias  of  to-day  might  be  changed 
into  the  crucifiges  of  the  morrow.  But  the 
thought  only  intensified  the  joy  then  re 
bounding  in  his  priestly  heart.  Had  he 
not  left  his  beloved  Zaragoza,  in  far  away 
Aragon,  to  look  for  the  crimson  crown  of 
martyrdom  in  the  wilds  of  the  New  World? 

The  cacique  caused  a  chapel  of  trunks  of 
trees,  with  over  it  a  thatched  roof  of  pal 
metto  leaves,  to  be  built,  and  Luis  Cancer 
made  to  flow  in  it  the  life  blood  of  Christ, 
that  was  to  save  and  redeem  the  land  of 
war. 

The  Holy  Sacrifice  made  a  profound 
impression  on  the  cacique'  and  on  his 
people.  How  unlike  was  the  clean,  silk- 
robed,  peace  loving  and  peace  breathing 
priest  of  the  Christians,  to  the  filthy,  trucu 
lent,  naked,  savage  medicine  man  of  his 
tribe,  whom  they  had  watched  from  child 
hood,  while  he  snatched  the  bleeding  heart 
out  of  the  disentrailled  victim  during  the 
sacrificial  hour? 

The  cacique  was  converted  and  baptized, 


Life  of~Bartolom£  de  Las  Casas.    379 

receiving  the  name  of  John.  Hereafter  he 
will  be  known  among  the  Spaniards  as 
Don  Juan  (Sir  John).  The  capitulacion 
between  the  Dominicans  and  the  governor 
helped  Father  Cancer  not  a  little  in  ob 
taining  these  results.  To  remain  free  and 
almost  independent  lord  of  his  country  and 
people  and  to  acquire  at  the  same  time  the 
friendship  of  the  whites  was  a  weighty 
consideration  with  the  farseeing  chief.  Not 
only  did  he  become  a  Christian  himself, 
but  turning  apostle,  he  exhorted  his  tribes 
men  to  follow  his  example.  He  also  prof 
fered  his  services  as  travelling  companion 
to  Father  Cancer  during  the  several  excur 
sions  that  the  missionary  made  to  become 
better  acquainted  with  the  surrounding 
country.  L,uis  Cancer  returned  to  Santiago 
towards  the  end  of  October  to  bring  the 
glad  tidings  of  his  success  to  his  fellow- 
friars. 

The  rainy  season  was  about  over  and 
Las  Casas,  accompanied  by  Father  Angulo, 
undertook  the  journey  to  the  land  of  war. 
Why  Cancer  was  left  behind  is  not  said. 
The  same  welcome  was  given  to  him  as 
had  been  given  to  Father  Cancer  by  chief 
Don  Juan  and  his  people.  It  appears  that 
his  brother,  the  same  who  had  visited 
Santiago  to  invite  the  Fathers,  had  lately 


380    Life  of  JBartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

married,  and  his  bride  had  just  arrived 
from  the  distant  pueblo  of  Coban,  within 
the  limits  of  Tuzulutlan  province.  A 
large  number  of  prominent  people  had 
come  along  to  see  the  newly  wedded  maid 
installed  in  her  new  home  in  the  cacique- 
dome  of  Don  Juan.  These  at  first  did  not 
take  kindly  to  the  latter's  change  of  reli 
gion  and  set  fire  to  his  chapel.  But  on  the 
arrival  of  Las  Casas,  the  chief  caused  a 
better  one  to  be  built  at  once,  where  the 
missioners  said  Mass  daily.  After  which, 
now  here  and  then  there,  in  different 
neighborhoods,  the  priests  spent  the  day 
in  preaching  and  catechizing  the  people  in 
the  open  air. 

But  the  dominions  of  Don  Juan  were  not 
by  any  means  the  only  ones  in  the  land  of 
war.  Farther  north  and  in  another  moun 
tain  range,  were  the  most  savage  people  of 
that  country,  who  spoke  a  different  dialect. 
Coban  might  have  been  called  their  capital 
and  they  too  must  be  brought  within  the 
fold  of s  Christ.  Las  Casas  wished  to  go 
thither,  but  Don  Juan  opposed  his  going, 
fearing  that  the  Father  might  lose  his  life 
in  the  attempt.  Seeing,  however,  that  the 
priest's  resolution  was  irrevocable,  the 
cacique  provided  him  with  a  body  guard  of 
seventy  men  selected  from  among  the 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    381 

bravest  of  his  tribe,  whom  lie  made  respon 
sible  for  the  life  of  his  friend.  There  was 
no  need  of  them ;  for  the  Indians  of  Coban 
and  those  of  other  caciquedoms  on  the 
route,  received  the  missioner  everywhere  as 
a  friend  and  made  no  objection  to  his  teach 
ing  them  the  new  religion. 

This  was  but  a  tour  of  exploration,  and 
Las  Casas  soon  returned  to  Don  Juan  to 
whom  he  explained  the  difficulties  to  be 
encountered  in  instructing  innumerable 
people  scattered  through  a  large  area  of 
mountainous  and  almost  unaccessible  coun 
try.  It  was  necessary,  he  argued,  to  build 
a  pueblo  and  gather  them  into  it,  where 
they  could  be  taught,  not  only  religion, 
but  trades  also  and  professions.  It  took 
the  priest  days  to  make  the  Indians  under 
stand  the  advantages  of  civilized  life.  Don 
Juan  himself  entered  readily  enough  into 
the  ideas  of  the  missioner,  but  his  people 
were  loath  to  abandon  their  wigwams  on 
the  mountain  sides,  and  the  ways  of  their 
ancestors.  For  "let  it  be  ever  so  humble," 
who  is  not  attached  to  his  native  home? 
This  is  specially  true  of  people  living  in 
high  latitudes.  The  Indians  of  the  Mesas 
or  table  lands  of  Central  America  and- 
Mexico  prefer  to-day  earning  thirty-five 
cents  a  day  at  home,  than  move  to  the  At 
lantic  or  the  Pacific  coasts,  where  a  dollar 


382    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

a  day  is  paid  to  them.  No  wonder  then 
to  learn  that  the  first  American  priest 
risked  the  success  of  his  entire  undertaking 
by  insisting  that  the  Indians  for  five,  ten 
and  twenty  miles  around  should  abandon 
their  cornfields,  the  huts  in  which  they 
were  born,  and  the  surroundings  of  child 
hood,  to  be  housed  on  the  streets  of  a  sym 
metrical  pueblo.  But  had  not  the  Protec 
tor  of  the  Indians  told  the  king  in  Spain 
that  this  was  the  only  way  to  permanent 
success  in  evangelizing  and  civilizing  the 
aboriginal  Americans?  Don  Juan  was 
therefore  persuaded  to  have  as  many  as  a 
hundred  huts  or  houses  built  around  the 
chapel  and  near  his  own  home.  Las  Casas 
called  the  pueblo  Rabmal,*)  which  was 
the  name  by  which  the  Tuzulutlans  desig 
nated  that  particular  locality. 

At  first  the  will  of  the  cacique  and  of  the 
white  men  was  resisted,  and  a  revolt  was 
even  threatened.  But  the  daily  Mass  fol 
lowed  by  an  instruction  and  some  songs 

*)  The  village  founded  by  Las  Casas  is  yet  in 
existence.  It  may  yet  become  quite  a  town,  as  some 
mines  have  .lately  been  found  in  the  Sierra.  Coban 
too  stands  yet,  an  enduring  monument  to  the  zeal 
of  the  first  American  priest,  and  a  witness  of  his 
apostolic  labors.  A  railroad  will  soon  penetrate  an 
cient  Tuzulutlan,  and  a  number  of  citizens  from  the 
U.  S.  have  lately  settled  there  to  raise  the  favorably 
known  Cobau  coffee. 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    383 

that  the  children  were  taught  to  sing, 
.brought  every  day  a  larger  audience,  and 
one  by  one  the  houses  became  tenanted. 
Indomitable  perseverance  triumphed  at  last, 
and  the  town  was  founded. 

There  must  have  been  occasional  com 
munications  between  the  land  of  war  and 
Santiago  de  los  Caballeros  ;  for  the  bull  of 
Pope  Paul  III.  defining  that  the  Indians  of 
the  New  World  were  rational  and  freewilled 
men,  and  that  therefore  they  should  be 
taught,  like  other  people,  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ,  reached  Las  Casas  at  Rabinal 
at  about  this  time,  1538.  He  translated  it 
at  once  and  sent  copies  of  it  wherever  he 
thought  they  might  do  the  most  good.  *) 


*  The  famous  bull  of  Paul  III.  "Sublimis  Deus 
Sic  D  ilex  it"  etc.  has  never  yet  appeared  in  English, 
as  far  as  I  know.  I'll  give  a  translation  of  it  omit 
ting  only  the  technical  phraseology  to  be  found  in 
all  similar  papal  documents. 

"Inasmuch  as  man  was  created,  as  the  scriptures 
teach,  to  enjoy  eternal  life  and  eternal  happiness, 
which  cannot  be  obtained  without  faith  in  Christ,  it 
necessarily  follows  that  he  must  be  naturally  fit  to 
receive  it.  Whoever  therefore  has  the  nature  of 
man  is  capable  of  receiving  the  faith  of  Christ.  No 
body  in  fact,  who  can  understand  what  faith  means, 
can  be  so  deficient  in  intelligence  as  to  be  unable  to 
understand  the  means  by  which  it  is  transmitted. 
Hence  Our  Lord,  who  is  truth  itself,  and  can  neither 
deceive  nor  be  deceived,  said  to  the  first  preachers  of 
the  faith,  when  he  appointed  them  to  their  office : 
"Go  and  teach  all  nations."  He  said,  all  nations, 
without  a  single  exception,  because  all  are  capable 


384    Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

If  the  reader  finds  it  strange  that  a 
papal  definition  should  have  been  neces 
sary  to  prove  that  the  aboriginal  Ameri- 

of  the  faith.  The  devil,  who  is  the  enemy  of  man= 
kind  and  of  all  good  works,  to  prevent  God's  child 
ren  from  reaching  their  eternal  destiny,  invented 
a  new  and  unheard  of  method  to  prevent  the  faith 
being  preached  to  the  people  and  thus  prevent  their 
salvation.  This  method  consists  in  persuading 
some  soldiers,  his  allies,  to  constantly  proclaim  that, 
inasmuch  as  the  Indians  and  other  people,  who  in 
habit  the  regions  in  our  own  times  discovered  to  the 
west  and  to  the  south. of  us,  are  not  capable  of  the 
faith,  we  may  make  the  same  use  of  them  in  our 
temporal  affairs  that  we  make  of  the  beasts  of  the 
fields. 

But  we,  who,  although  His  unworthy  servant,  have 
been  appointed  by  Jesus  Christ  his  vicar  on  earth, 
and  who  with  all  our  power  endeavor  to  bring  into 
His  fold  the  sheep  entrusted  to  our  care,  considering 
that  the  Indians,  who  are  true  men,  not  only  are 
capable  of  the  faith,  but,  as  we  are  informed, 
earnestly  desire  to  embrace  it ;  in  order  to  stamp  out 
this  pernicious  doctrine,  by  our  apostolic  authority 
and  by  these  present  ....  define  and  proclaim  that 
said  Indians  or  any  other  people,  who  may  be  here 
after  discovered  by  Catholics,  although  they  be  not 
Christians,  must  in  no  way  be  deprived  of  their 
liberty  or  their  possessions,  and  that  on  the  con 
trary  they  may  and  must  be  allowed  to  enjoy  freely 
and  lawfully  of  said  liberty  and  possessions ;  that 
they  must  not  be  in  any  manner  enslaved  ;  and  that, 
if  they  be  so  enslaved,  their  slavery  must  be  con 
sidered  as  null  and  void. 

By  the  same  apostolic  authority  we  define  also  that 
the  said  Indians  must  be  called  to  the  faith  of  Jesus 
Christ  by  the  word  of  God  and  the  examples  of  good 
and  holy  lives. 

Given  in  Rome  the  17th  of  June  1537. 

PAUI,  POPE;  III. 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.'  385 

cans  were  men,  let  him  remember  that 
during  this  XIX.  century  more  than  one 
work  has  been  written  (one  at  least  by 
a  so-called  minister  of  the  gospel)  to 
prove  that  our  negroes  are  not  descended 
from  Adam  and  Eve,  and  that  therefore 
they  are  not  men.  Slavery  can  be  re 
conciled  with  the  spirit  of  the  gospel  only 
on  that  supposition,  and  the  defenders  of 
the  slavery  of  the  inferior  races,  who 
called  themselves  Christians,  never  could 
long  hold  their  position  without  having 
recourse  to  that  unchristian  and  unscien 
tific  theory. 

Las  Casas  was  now  armed  with  a  new 
weapon  with  which  to  defend  his  doctrines 
and  the  Indians.  He  and  his  companion 
De  Angulo,  indefatigable  as  they  were, 
could  not  attend  to  all  that  was  to  be 
done  in  Tuzulutlan.  Las  Casas  therefore 
called  to  his  assistance  Luis  Cancer  and 
personally  accompanied  him  to  Coban, 
where  they  received  again  a  hearty  wel 
come.  On  his  return  to  Rabinal  he  learned 
that  bishop  Marroquin  had  arrived  in 
Santiago  from  Mexico  and  that  Pedro  de 
Alvarado,  the  direct  representative  of  the 
king  in  all  Central  America,  was  also  in 
town.  Was  it  a  call  from  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  authorities  of  the  diocese,  or 
25 


386  Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

was  it  because  the  Protector  of  the  In 
dians  had  been  inspired  with  new  hopes 
of  unshackling  all  the  natives  of  America 
by  the  Pope's  bull,  that  he  decided  to 
abandon  for  a  time  at  least  the  mission 
ary  field  that  was  laden  with  abundant 
harvest?  Subsequent  events  seem  to  show 
that  Las  Casas  thought  Spain  and  not  the 
Indies  to  be  the  place  where  the  battle 
for  the  Indians'  freedom  was  to  be  fought. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  reasons, 
certain  it  is,  that  leaving  the  mission  of 
Rabinal  in  charge  of  Father  Angulo,  L,as 
Casas  departed  for  Santiago,  ostensibly  to 
confer  with  bishop  Marroquin  about  ob 
taining  more  evangelical  laborers  for  that 
part  of  the  Lord's  vineyard,  which  was 
yet  known  as  the  land  of  war. 

To  convince  the  Spaniards  of  Guate 
mala  that  his  theory  of  converting  the 
natives  by  persuasion  and  peace,  was  not 
a  Utopia,  Don  Juan  was  invited  to  accom 
pany  him  to  the  city,  and  the  invitation 
was  accepted.  But  the  chief  wished  to 
travel  with  quite  an  army  of  his  warriors, 
while  the  priest  feared  that  some  embar 
rassing  mishap  might  be  caused  by  a  large 
number  of  Indians  entering  Santiago  at 
once.  He  reasoned  with  Don  Juan,  that 
the  Spaniards  at  home  were  not  nearly 


Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    387 

as  dreadful  and  as  cruel  as  they  were  on 
the  battlefield,  and  he  and  a  smaller  cpn- 
tingent  of  followers  would  have  nothing 
to  fear  at  their  hands.  The  Cacique  was 
at  last  persuaded  to  undertake  the  journey 
with  an  escort  sufficiently  large  to  empha 
size  the  importance  of  the  ruler  of  Tuzu- 
lutlan,  but  not  so  numerous  as  to  give 
umbrage  to  the  Spaniards,  or  cause  for 
apprehension,  on  the  part  of  the  missioner, 
of  possible  disorders.  Word  was  sent  to 
Father  Ladrada,  the  only  Dominican  left 
in  the  convent  of  Santiago,  that  Don  Juan 
and  his  suite  were  coming.  In  a  few 
days  the  grounds  of  the  convent  were 
literally  covered  with  huts  and  tents  to 
accommodate  the  expected  visitors,  while 
an  abundance  of  provisions  were  gathered 
wherewith  to  feed  them. 

The  entry  of  L,as  Casas  and  his  Indians 
from  the  land  of  war  may  be  better  imagined 
than  described.  The  bishop  hastened  to 
pay  Don  Juan  a  visit  at  the  convent,  where 
he  had  an  opportunity  of  observing  and  of 
admiring  the  gravity  of  the  Indian  chief, 
whom  he  found,  relatively  speaking,  extra 
ordinarily  well  instructed  in  the  Christian 
religion.  The  interview  between  the  suc 
cessor  of  the  apostles  and  the  new  convert 
made  so  good  an  impression  on  the  former, 


388   Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

that  he  assured  Pedro  de  Alvarado  that  it 
was  worth  his  while  to  pay  him  an  official 
visit.  Alvarado  complied  with  the  bishop's 
wishes,  and  at  the  end  of  a  long  conver 
sation,  so  carried  away  was  he  by  the 
manly  bearing,  the  kingly  dignity,  the 
wisdom  and  common  sense  of  Don  Juan, 
that,  taking  from  his  own  head  the  of 
ficial  rich  taffeta  chapeau,  he  placed  it  on 
that  of  the  Indian.  He  was  severely  criti 
cised  by  the  bystanding  Spaniards  for  so 
doing ;  but  the  chief  thanked  the  official  for 
the  honor  conferred  upon  him,  and  never 
gave  him  cause  for  regretting  his  generous 
action. 

With  a  view  to  -further  impress  Don  Juan 
with  the  advantages  and  splendor  of  Euro 
pean  civilization,  and  to  leave  no  doubt  in 
his  mind  that  the  Spaniards'  friendship 
was  genuine  and  worth  having,  word  was 
passed  around  to  the  merchants  of  the  town, 
to  make,  on  a  given  day,  as  brilliant  a  dis 
play  of  their  goods  as  possible,  and  to 
present  the  Indian  chief  with  any  article  in 
their  shops  for  which  he  might  exhibit  a 
special  liking.  The  bishop  would  settle 
the  bills.  In  company  of  his  lordship  Mar- 
roquin  and  of  Don  Alvarado,  Don  Juan 
visited  the  different  establishments  of  San 
tiago ;  but  while  expressing  with  gravity 


Life  ofBartolom^  de  Las  Casas.    389 

his  admiration  for  many  European  articles, 
the  like  of  which  he  had  never  seen,  as 
silk  stuffs,  gold  and  silver  ware,  he  declined 
to  accept  all  the  many  presents  offered 
him,  except  one.  This  was  a  large  picture 
of  Our  Blessed  Lady.  He  questioned  the 
bishop  about  it,  and  his  explanations,  he 
said,  tallied  with  what  the  missioners  had 
told  him  about  the  Blessed  Mother  of  Christ. 
Having  received  it  reverentially,  he  turned 
it  over  to  a  prominent  man  of  his  suite, 
with  instruction  to  handle  it  very  carefully. 
No  doubt  Don  Juan  wished  the  Spaniards 
to  understand  that  the  allegiance  of  the 
lord  of  Tuzulutlan  was  not  to  be  bought 
with  presents.  As  to  the  Blessed  Virgin's 
picture  he  wished  it,  I  reckon,  to  adorn  his 
chapel  at  Rabinal. 

The  members  of  his  suite  were  not  so 
particular ;  and  they  returned  to  their 
homes,  in  company  of  Las  Casas  and  Father 
Ladrada,  loaded  with  presents.  The  reader 
needs  not  be  told  that  the  convent  of  San 
tiago  remained  deserted.  From  Rabinal 
Las  Casas  wished  to  travel  to  distant  Coban 
with  Father  Ladrada  to  found  there  a  per 
manent  missionary  establishment.  In  this 
undertaking  they  received  the  willing  as 
sistance  of  two  Caciques,  the  neighbors  of 
Don  Juan,  one  of  whom  was  called  Don 


390    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

Pedro,  and  the  other  Don  Miguel.  Mean 
while  other  Dominicans  were  summoned 
from  elsewhere  to  replace  the  missioners  to 
the  land  of  war. 

The  four  apostles,  L,as  Casas,  I^adrada, 
Cancer  and  Angulo,  continued  in  the  work 
of  evangelization  in  Tuzulutlan,  until  the 
year  1538,  at  the  beginning  of  which, 
through  their  confreres  of  Santiago  they 
were  called  by  the  bishop  to  a  conference 
to  devise  ways  and  means  of  providing  the 
extensive  new  diocese  with  a  sufficient 
number  of  priests  to  attend  to  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  the  growing  white  population  as 
well  as  of  the  natives,  who  were  flocking 
to  the  Church  daily  in  larger  numbers. 
The  prelate  told  the  Fathers  that  he  set 
aside  in  Guatemala  certain  sums  to  be  used 
to  defray  the  travelling  expenses  of  new 
missionaries  besides  some  cash  held  by  a 
friend  of  his  in  Spain  for  the  same  purpose. 
His  lordship's  preference  was  that  the  new 
comers  should  be  Dominicans  and  Francis 
cans,  but  wished  to  have  the  opinion  of 
the  Fathers  on  the  important  subject.  It 
would  be  necessary  to  the  object  in  view  to 
send  to  Spain  somebody  influential  enough 
to  gather  together  a  sufficient  number  of 
missioners. 

The  views  of  the  bishop  were  concurred 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    391 

in  unanimously,  and  very  naturally  Las 
Casas  was  pointed  out  as  the  proper  person 
to  undertake  the  journey.  In  a  few  days 
the  first  American  priest  in  company  of  his 
hereafter  fidus  acates,  Father  Rodrigo  de 
Ladrada  was  on  the  march  to  cross  for  the 
fourth  time  the  American  continent  in  the 
interests  of  the  Indians.  His  travelling  ex 
penses  this  time  came  out  of  the  episcopal 
treasury.  They  journeyed  to  Mexico  City 
through  the  land  of  war,  where  Don  Juan 
was  at  first  dismayed  to  hear  that  Las  Casas 
was  about  to  leave  for  his  native  Spain,  but 
was  soon  consoled  by  the  promise  that  his 
return  would  not  be  long  delayed.  The 
leave  taking  at  Rabinal  with  those  whom 
he  had  lately  engendered  in  Christ,  reminds 
us  of  St.  Paul's  farewell  to  his  converts  of 
Kphesus  and  Miletum.  (Act.  Apost. 
Cap.  XX.) 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

Las  Casas  Crosses  the  Atlantic  the  Seventh 
Time  in  the  Interest  of  the  Indians. 


Casas  selected  the  longer  route  to 
Spain  by  Mexico  City  to  attend  a  pro 
vincial  chapter  of  the  order,  to  have  his 
trip  to  Spain  approved  by  the  same,  and 
to  have  other  Fathers  sent  to  the  land  of 
war  to  continue  the  evangelization  of  that 
country.  After  some  delay,  the  chapter 
approved  L,as  Casas'  voyage,  and  Father 
Ivuis  Cancer  was  summoned  to  become 
an  additional  travelling  companion,  new 
Fathers  were  sent  to  Rabinal,  Coban  and 
Santiago  and  de  Angulo  was  appointed 
Las  Casas'  vicar  general  in  those  parts 
during  his  absence. 

Governor  Maldonado  had  given  the 
Protector  of  the  Indians  a  letter  of  re 
commendation  to  Charles  V.  on  the  oc 
casion  of  his  leaving  Santiago.  After 
describing  the  work  already  accomplished 
in  Tuzulutlan  the  governor  ended  his 
letter  with  the  following  paragraphs  : 

(392) 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    393 

"Fray  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas  goes  to 
those  kingdoms  (Spain)  in  company  of 
Father  Ladrada.  He  is  a  person  of  good 
and  exemplary  life,  who  is  well  known 
here  for  his  zeal  in  instructing  and  pro 
tecting  the  natives  and  insuring  their 
good  treatment.  Furthermore  his  in 
tentions  and  his  efforts  are  directed  to 
your  majesty's  service.  I  beg  your  majesty 
to  favor  him  and  to  encourage  him  to  per 
severe  in  his  good  undertaking.  He  is 
well  informed  about  everything  that  is 
going  on  in  these  parts,  and  will  be  able 
to  give  you  any  information  that  you  may 
desire. " 

As  this  letter  is  dated  October  16,  1539, 
it  is  clear  that  Las  Casas  could  scarcely 
have  reached  Spain  before  the  beginning 
of  1540.  But  by  the  9th  of  January  of 
that  year,  he  had  already  caused  a  decree 
to  be  issued  by  the  council  of  the  Indians 
addressed  to  the  governor  and  to  the 
bishop  of  Guatemala,  in  which  it  is  ordered 
that  the  religious  instruction  of  the  slaves 
belonging  to  the  Spanish  settlers  be  care 
fully  attended  to.  His  activity  is  again 
evidenced  by  another  decree  confirming 
the  privileges  granted  to  the  Indians  of 
Rabinal,  Coban  and  the  rest  of  the  land 
of  war,  and  forbidding  the  Spaniards  to 


394    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

settle  on,  or  to  travel  through  it,  without 
the  consent  of  the  Fathers.  Their  free 
dom  and  almost  total  independence  is  also 
guaranteed  thereby.  About  the  same  time 
letters  were  written  and  dispatched  in  the 
name  of  Charles  V.  to  the  Christian  Ca 
ciques  of  Tuzulutlan  congratulating  them 
on  their  acceptance  of  the  Christian  faith, 
and  once  more  assuring  them  that  the 
aforementioned  guarantees  would  be  faith 
fully  observed.  In  still  another  decree  ad 
dressed  to  the  highest  judicial  authorities 
in  New  Spain  (Guatemala  was  then  a  part 
of  it)  the  judges  of  the  Audiencia  of  Mexico 
City  are  commanded  to  see  to  it  that  the 
infractors  of  the  foregoing  and  other  similar 
laws  be  properly  punished.  This  last  decree 
is  dated  October  the  lyth,  1540. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  explain  why  L,as 
Casas  was  now  granted  so  readily  all  that 
he  asked  for  his  Indians.  Old  Fonseca 
had  died,  and  cardinal  Loaysa,  Archbishop 
of  Seville,  had  succeeded  him  in  the  pre 
sidency  of  the  bureau  for  Indian  affairs, 
the  personel  of  which  had  also  been  greatly 
changed.  While  the  offices  of  the  Indian 
council  were  of  old  not  unfrequently  closed 
against  the  Clerigo  L,as  Casas,  they  were 
now  wide  open  to  Fray  Bartolome  de 
Las  Casas.  Although  the  biographers  of 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    395 

the  first  American  priest  have  generally 
overlooked  it,  it  is  nevertheless  a  fact  that 
the  change  of  policy  in  regard  to  the  ab 
origines  by  the  Spanish  government  was 
due  very  largely  to  the  bull  of  Pope 
Paul  III. 

By  the  end  of  1540  Las  Casas  was  ready 
to  sail  for  America  with  all  the  Domini 
cans  and  Franciscans  whom  Bishop  Mar- 
roquin  wished  to  import  into  Guatemala. 
But  perhaps  it  was  because  cardinal  Loaysa 
had  requested  him  to  tarry  longer  in  Spain, 
that  he  wrote  to  Charles  V. ,  who  was  then 
in  Germany,  the  following  letter,  which 
explains  itself : 

uMost  high  and  most  powerful  lord! 

While  in  Guatemala,  in  the  Indies,  I 
received  your  letters  and  provisions,  where 
by  your  Majesty  directed  that  I  and  some 
other  members  of  my  order  of  St.  Dominic 
should  continue  the  work  of  pacification  of 
certain  several  provinces,  which  had  not 
yet  accepted  your  sovereignty,  and  that  we 
should  induce  them  to  acknowledge  them 
selves  your  subjects.  We  began  the  work 
and  were  making  good  progress.  In  fact 
the  native  lords  of  those  provinces  have 
already  come  to  see  us  privately,  and  we 
hope,  with  the  help  of  God  Our  Lord,  that 
we  will  be  able  to  bring  them,  and  many 


396    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

more,  to  the  knowledge  of  their  Creator 
and  to  the  obedience  of  your  Majesty,  by 
the  ways  of  peace,  charity  and  good  works. 
Thus  the  kingdom  of  Christ  will  be  ex 
tended  and  your  dominions  and  revenues 
increased.  But  things  of  more  importance 
and  of  greater  service  to  your  Majesty, 
which  concern  the  whole  of  that  New 
World,  which  Divine  Providence  has  con 
signed  to  your  protection  and  administra 
tion,  induced  me  to  come  to  kiss  your 
Majesty's  hand  and  report  to  you  per 
sonally  about  abuses  so  serious,  that,  if 
they  be  not  corrected,  interests  more  im 
portant  than  those  of  all  your  other  king 
doms  will  be  endangered.  Therefore  I 
thought  it  advisable  to  suspend  for  a  while 
my  work  in  Guatemala,  and  to  undertake 
a  journey  hither.  But  on  my  arrival  in 
Castile,  I  found  that  your  Majesty  was  ab 
sent.  Should  I  return  without  making  to 
you  my  report,  I  feel  that  much  harm 
would  thereby  accrue  to  the  Indies,  by  the 
postponement  of  remedies  to  the  afore 
mentioned  abuses.  In  order  therefore  that 
I  may  not  fail  in  the  obedience  which  I 
have  promised  my  monastic  superiors,  I 
ask  your  Majesty  to  be  pleased  to  command 
me,  and  by  your  royal  letters  to  instruct 
the  Provincial  of  this  province  to  command 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    397 

me  also,  to  wait  for  your  coming.  I  am 
certain  that  you  will  consider  my  report  a 
service  rendered  by  me  and  by  the  Domin 
ican  order  to  your  Majesty.  If  not,  I  will 
return  to  the  Indies  conscious  of  having 
clone  my  duty  to  God  and  to  my  king.  The 
bearer  of  this  letter  is  Father  James  de 
Testera,  an  apostolic  man  of  the  order  of 
St.  Francis,  who  has  done  much  service  to 
your  Majesty  in  the  Indies.  May  God 
prosper  and  prolong  the  years  of  your 
Majesty's  reign. 

Your  servant,  etc. 

Fray  Bartolome  de  L,as  Casas." 
Why  did  he  not  set  out  at  once  for 
America  with  the  Dominican  and  Francis 
can  Fathers?  The  question  must  be  an 
swered  as  follows :  Although  there  is  no 
documentary  evidence  to  prove  it,  the  fact 
may  nevertheless  be  properly  surmised  in 
the  light  of  subsequent  events.  Armed 
with  the  bull  of  Paul  III.,  L,as  Casas  had, 
during  his  past  ten  months  residence  in 
Castile,  left  not  a  stone  unturned  to  induce 
the  council  of  the  Indies  to  enact  the 
necessary  legislation  to  insure  the  liberty 
and  protection  of  the  Indians.  No  doubt 
he  had  brought  over  to  his  way  of  think 
ing  cardinal  L,oaysa,  and  the  majority  of 
the  members  of  the  bureau  for  Indian 


398    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

affairs.  But  nothing  of  importance  could 
be  done  in  the  absence  of  the  king.  Should 
he  bury  himself  once  more  in  the  wilds  of 
the  land  of  war?  If  he  did  so,  the  Pro 
tector  of  the  Indians  knew  that  the  unfor 
tunates  would  soon  pass  again  out  of  mind 
of  the  Spanish  court,  and  that  the  evils  of 
slavery  would  meanwhile  cast  deeper  and 
deeper  roots  on  American  soil.  His  re 
maining  longer  in  Spain  was  evidently  of 
a  paramount  importance  to  his  wards,  the 
Indians.  But  practically  he  was  an  agent 
of  bishop  Marroquin,  at  whose  expense  he 
had  come  to  Europe,  and,  in  virtue  of  his 
vows,  his  actions  were  also  subject  to  the 
direction  of  his  monastic  superiors.  To 
enable  himself  to  remain  longer  in  Castile 
with  propriety,  and  to  show  bishop  Mar 
roquin  that,  if  he  did  so,  it  was  for  suffi 
cient  reasons,  L,as  Casas  had  recourse  to 
the  subterfuge  of  asking  the  emperor  to 
command  him  to  prolong  his  stay  in  Spain. 
At  first  sight  the  conduct  of  the  first 
American  priest,  viewed  in  this  light,  is 
subject  to  criticism.  But  countless  genera 
tions  of  the  American  aborigines  have  good 
reasons,  as  we  shall  see,  to  thank  him  for 
having  had  recourse  to  that  subterfuge  in 
their  behalf.  For  otherwise  the  nuevas 
leyes  or  ordenanzas  (about  which  much  is 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    399 

to  be  said  presently)  would  perhaps  never 
have  been  enacted,  and  without  them  it  is 
doubtful  if  a  vestige  would  now  remain  of 
the  native  race  on  the  western  continent. 

Charles  V.,  who  had  not  forgotten  the 
bold  Clerigo,  micer  Bartolom&,  and  who 
had  probably  kept  well  informed  about  his 
late  doings  at  Madrid,  granted  his  request 
without  difficulty,  and  Las  Casas  postponed 
his  departure. 

The  recruits  for  the  missions  of  Guate 
mala,  Dominicans  and  Franciscans,  were 
now  gathered  in  Seville  and  the  Protector 
of  the  Indians  was  with  them.  The  decrees 
concerning  the  Indians  of  Tuzulutlan  were 
published  by  the  public  crier  at  the  sounds 
of  the  herald's  trumpet  in  front  of  the 
great  cathedral  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing  of  the  2ist  of  January  1541. 

Las  Casas,  who  had  just  received  orders 
from  Loaysa  (the  readers  know  why)  to 
remain  longer  in  Spain,  decided  to  send 
Luis  Cancer  to  accompany  the  missioners, 
to  deliver  to  the  proper  American  authori 
ties  the  decrees  obtained,  and  to  see  to  it 
that  they  were  executed  and  put  in  force. 

The  council  of  the  Indies  recommended 
to  the  emperor  that  all  past  legislation  con 
cerning  the  American  Indians  should  be 
remodelled  and  recast  in  their  favor.  All 


400    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

contemporary  writers  and  all  trie  bio 
graphers  of  L,as  Casas  are  agreed,  that  he 
was  the  prime  mover  in  inducing  the  coun 
cil  to  reach  this  decision.  As  had  been 
done  in  1519  and  in  1520,  juntas  or  con 
ventions  of  learned  ecclesiastics,  jurists, 
statesmen,  and  theologians  were  again 
called  together,  who  for  days  and  weeks 
met  again  and  again  to  discuss  the  needs 
of  the  Indians,  and  to  formulate  laws 
which  were  intended  to  do  justice  to  the 
Spaniards  and.  to  the  Indians  alike.  As 
usual  in  such  gatherings  many  shades  of 
opinion  developed,  and  L,as  Casas  was  al 
ways  in  evidence  to  advocate  his  own  in 
that  forcible  style  so  peculiar  to  the  first 
American  priest.  As  a  matter  of  course, 
the  Protector  of  the  Indians  was  the  leader 
of  those  who  stood  for  the  complete  eman 
cipation  of  the  Americans. 

At  one  of  the  meetings  Las  Casas  pre 
sented  a  voluminous  memorial  of  the  con 
tents  of  which  the  following  quotation  will 
give  an  idea.  He  suggests  sixteen  remedies 
for  the  reformation  of  the  Indies,  of  which 
"the  eighth  is  the  one  most  important  and 
essential,  because,  without  it,  the  others 
would  be  worth  nothing,  as  all  of  them  are 
subordinate  to  this  one,  and  are  directed  to 
it  as  means  to  an  end.  The  importance  of 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    401 

it  is  greater  than  could  be  expressed  in 
words,  so  great  in  fact,  that  its  adoption  or 
rejection  will  decide  if  your  Majesty  will 
retain  or  lose  all  the  Indies  and  all  their 
people.  It  consists  in  this :  Let  your 
Majesty  order  and  command  by  pragmatic 
sanction,  and  by  the  highest  law  of  your 
realms,  proclaimed  in  the  presence  of  the 
Cortes  solemnly  assembled,  that  all  the  In 
dians  in  the  Indies,  those  who  are  already, 
as  well  as  those  who  will  hereafter  become 
your  subjects,  be  declared  the  free  vassals 
of  the  united  kingdoms  of  Castile  and 
Leon,  recognizing  no  other  lord  than  your 
Majesty ;  that  none  of  them  shall  ever  be 
given  in  Kncomiendas  to  any  Spaniards, 
that  on  the  contrary  it  shall  for  ever  be 
unconstitutional,  contrary  to  your  will  and 
to  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  to  give 
them  to  anybody  in  Encomiendas  or  other 
wise  or  to  exact  from  them  any  personal 
service  for  any  necessity  or  need  whatso 
ever.  To  give  it  greater  binding  force,  let 
your  Majesty  take  a  formal  oath  upon  your 
Christian  faith  and  upon  your  royal  word, 
your  crown,  or"*any thing  else  that  Christian 
princes  are  wont  to  swear  by,  that,  at  no 
time,  either  personally  or  through  those, 
who  will  succeed  you  in  these  and  those 
kingdoms  (the  American)  you  will  revoke, 
26 


402    Life  ofBartolomd  cle  Las  Casas. 

as  far  as  you  are  concerned,  this  supreme 
law.  Let  your  Majesty  insert  also  in  your 
royal  testament  a  clause  commanding  that 
it  be  forever  defended,  guarded  and  up 
held " 

Charles  V.  was  perhaps,  at  this  period, 
surrounded  by  as  wise,  far  -  seeing,  and 
sagacious  councillors  as  any  monarch  had 
ever  been  before.  They  saw  that  the 
measures  recommended  by  Las  Casas,  un- 
blunted  and  unmitigated,  were  those  of  an 
ex-parte  advocate,  who  considered  ex 
clusively  his  own  point  of  view.  They 
would  defeat  themselves,  they  thought, 
and  lead  to  revolution  and  anarchy.  His 
views  were  accepted  in  principle,  but  legis 
lation"  was  so  shaped  as  to  make  its  en 
forcement  practicable.  The  nuevas  leyes 
(new  laws),  so  called  for  many  years  after, 
which  were  enacted  in  1541  and  1542,  have 
formed  the  admiration  of  every  historian 
and  jurist,  who  studied  them  deeply  in  con 
nection  with  the  social  conditions  then  pre 
vailing  in  America.  Las  Casas  had  gained 
the  battle  of  his  life.  Slavery  was  abol 
ished,  if  not  at  once  and  by  one  stroke  of 
the  pen,  after  one  generation. 

The  world  should  know  it.  The  orig 
inator  of  the  crusade  in  favor  of  truly 
American  liberty  was  a  simple  Catholic 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    403 

priest,  who  broke  trie  shackles  of  not  less 
than  thirty  millions  of  human  beings,  who 
were  or  would  have  been  slaves,  on  this 
western  continent,  at  the  very  time,  when 
the  so-called  Reformation  caused  the  Old 
World  to  be  drenched  in  blood.  It  was  a 
cardinal  and  numerous  other  prelates  of 
the  old  Church,  who  drafted  the  plan  of 
legislation  that  saved  the  American  race 
from  utter  extinction. 

I  need  quote  but  a  few  of  the  new  laws 
to  show  that,  if  they  were  not  clothed  in 
his  words,  they  contained  almost  in  toto 
the  ideas  of  the  first  American  priest. 

"  i st.  The  Kncomiendas  heretofore  estab 
lished  .legally,  shall  not  pass  to  the  chil 
dren  or  the  wives  of  the  conquistadores, 
but  only  tributes  shall  be  collected  from  the 
Indians,  who  shall  become  the  free  vassals 
of  the  king. 

2d.  It  is  forbidden  to  employ  Indians 
as  carriers,  except  in  unavoidable  circum 
stances  ;  and  the  Indians  so  employed 
shall  be  paid  wages.  They  shall  not  be 
employed  in  the  mines  or  the  pearl  fish 
eries.  The  personal,  enforced  labor  of  the 
Indians  is  abolished,  and  tributes  shall  be 
levied  instead  on  the  Indians,  for  the  bene 
fit  of  the  owners  of  Kncomiendas. 

3rd.    All  participants  in  the  disturbances 


404    Life  oj  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

caused  by  Pizarro  and  Almagro  in  Peru 
shall  be  deprived  of  their  Encomiendas. 

4th.  Bishops,  hospitals,  governors, 
mayors  of  towns,  judges  and  his  majesty's 
officers  shall  be  deprived  of  their  Encomi- 
endas. 

5th.  It  is  hereby  forbidden,  even  in 
case  of  rebellion,  or  for  any  other  reason 
whatever,  to  enslave  Indians,  and  we  wish 
that  all  the  natives  of  the  Indies  be  treated 
like,  as  in  fact  they  are,  free  vassals  of 
the  crown  of  Castile. 

6th.  It  shall  be  forbidden  to  compel  the 
Indians  to  do  service  against  their  will  and 
consent. 

7th.  As  it  is  forbidden  in  any  manner 
whatever  to  enslave  Indians,  it  is  ordered 
that  the  Audiencias  summon  all  those  who 
have  Indian  slaves  in  their  possession,  and 
if  it  be  found  that  these  have  been  enslaved 
without  reason  or  right,  the  same  must  be 
set  free  summarily  and  without  process  of 
law.  The  burden  of  proof,  to  show  the 
legal  ownership  of  the  slaves,  shall  rest 
with  the  slaveholders.  And  as  it  may 
happen  that  for  want  of  attorneys  or  re 
presentatives  the  Indians  may  acknowledge 
themselves  as  slaves,  it  is  ordered  that 
conscientious  and  careful  men  be  appointed 
as  attorneys,  and  that  the  same  be  paid  out 


Life  oj  Bartolomt  ae  Las  Casas.    405 

of  the  court  fees  to  represent  the   Indians. 

8th.  It  is  also  ordered  and  commanded 
that  hereafter  no  viceroy,  governor,  Audi- 
encia,  discoverer  of  new  lands,  or  any 
other  person  whatever  shall  have  power  to 
give  Indians  in  Encomiendas  as  a  remuner 
ation  for  services  rendered,  or  as  a  gift,  or 
sale  or  in  any  other  manner  whatsoever, 
even  if  the  case  be  of  an  Kncomienda  which 
has  become  vacant.  When  the  holder  of 
an  Kncomienda  shall  die,  the  Indians  there 
of  shall  be  declared  the  free  vassals  of  the 
crown  ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Audi- 
encia  to  inform  themselves  about  the  rank 
of  the  deceased,  his  character,  his  merits 
and  his  services,  if  he  left  a  wife,  children 
or  other  heirs,  and  to  make  a  report  on  the 
matter  to  the  king,  as  well  as  on  the  quali 
ties  of  the  Indians  themselves  and  of  their 
lands  ;  in  order  that  what  shall  appear  right 
and  equitable  may  be  done  for  the  wife, 
children  or  heirs.  If  in  the  meantime  it 
shall  appear  to  the  Audiencia  that  said 
wife,  children  or  heirs  be  in  need  of  tem 
porary  assistance,  it  may  be  given  to  them 
out  of  the  tributes  that  the  Indians  shall 
pay,  as  these  must  be  declared  free  vassals 
of  the  king." 

The  new  laws  were  enacted  in  Valladolid, 
and  received  the  signature  of  Charles  V. 
November  soth  of  the  year  1542. 


f 

406    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

What  liad  aroused  and  decided  the  coun 
cil  of  the  Indies  and  the  emperor  himself 
to  adopt  rather  suddenly  the  foregoing  and 
other  radical  reforms  ?  No  doubt  the  bull 
of  Pope  Paul  III.  acted  as  an  incentive  on 
the  friars,  bishops,  archbishops  and  the 
cardinal,  who  sat  as  members  of  the  bureau 
for  Indian  affairs,  and  no  less  on  His  Most 
Catholic  Majesty.  But  a  little  pamphlet 
by  Las  Casas  had  more  to  do  with  it  than 
anything  else.  He  called  it  a  uBrevisima 
Relation  de  la  Destruction  de  las  Indias, 
i.  e.  A  very  brief  expose  of  the  destruction 
of  the  Indies,"  from  which  itself  enough 
can  be  gathered  that  it  was  written  during 
the  years  1541  and  1542,  and  that  the 
original  draft  was  retouched  later,  when  it 
was  published  by  Las  Casas  himself.  In 
fact  a  manuscript  copy  of  the  original, 
lately  found  by  Antonio  Fabie,  begins  as 
follows:  "The  Indies  were  discovered  in 
1492  ;  the  following  year  they  began  to  be 
settled,  so  that  it  is  now  fourty-nine  years 
since  they  were  taken  possession  of  by 
any  considerable  number  of  Spaniards. 
The  author  therefore  must  have  been 
writing  either  in  1541  or  rather  about 
May  1542  ;  for  it  was  in  that  month  of 
the  year  1493  that  Columbus  landed  in 
Hispaniola  with  some  two  thousand  imi- 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    407 

grants.  Again  the  author,  speaking  of 
Hernando.de  Soto  in  Florida,  says  :  "The 
fourth  tyrant  went  there  lately  during  the 
year  1538  ....  It  is  now  three  years 
since  he  has  not  been  seen,  and  nothing 
has  been  heard  of  him."  This  therefore 
must  have  been  written  in  1541. 

The  pamphlet  consists  of  about  seventy- 
five  closely  printed  octavo  pages.  L,as 
Casas,  ever  since  he  was  appointed  official 
Protector  of  the  Indians,  had  lost  no  oppor 
tunity  to  gather  evidence  everywhere  and 
from  everybody,  who  had  any  to  give,  of 
the  cruelties  and  oppressions  practiced  by 
the  Spaniards  against  his  wards.  In  1541, 
or  at  the  beginning  of  1542,  when  the 
Spanish  court  had  set  to  work  in  earnest  to 
remodel  American  colonial  legislation,  lyas 
Casas  gathered  the  vast  mass  of  memoran 
dums  he  had  made  during  the  past  twenty 
years,  then  dipped  his  pen  in  gall,  and 
wrote  the  pamphlet  which  soon  became  the 
most  famous  of  his  works.  It  is  a  graphic 
and  exaggerated  (at  least  all  writers  think 
so)  description  of  all  the  massacres,  kid 
napping  expeditions,  brutal  wars,  wanton 
cruelties  and  thefts  of  the  American  sett 
lers  from  New  Mexico  to  Chili,  and  from 
Argentina  to  Florida.  The  pamphlet  was 
no  doubt  presented  to  the  councillors,  who 


408    Life  oj  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

were  at  work  on  the  laws  in  1542.  It  must 
have  caused  a  thrill  of  horror  in  the  heart 
of  Charles  V.  and  of  his  son  Philip,  and  on 
all  the  grandees  of  tlie  court.  Hence  the 
prompt  enactment  of  the  new  laws.  In 
1552,  as  many  abuses,  although  greatly 
abated,  still  continued  in  America,  in  spite 
of  said  laws,  I^as  Casas  revised  his  pamphlet, 
added  to  it,  and  then  gave  it  to  the  press. 
It  was  translated  into  Italian  and  into 
French,  and  soon  became  the  stock  in  trade 
of  many  foreign  writers,  who  used  it  as  an 
armory,  whence  they  drew  their  weapons 
to  fight  Spain  often  unscrupulously,  and 
by  misrepresentations.  L,as  Casas  however 
never  accused  the  Spanish  nation  as  such, 
or  its  government  of  being  guilty  of  the 
atrocities  he  describes  in  his  pamphlet,  al 
though  in  later  writings  of  his  he  does  not 
wholly  exonerate  either  the  nation  or  the 
government  from  enriching  themselves  at 
the  expense  of  the  American  Indians.  The 
historian  is  forced  to  acknowledge  that  the 
central  government  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa 
bella,  of  Charles  V.  and  Philip  II.  en 
deavored  unremittingly  to  ameliorate  the 
condition  of  the  unfortunate  Americans 
and  to  protect  them  from  the  cruelty  and 
rapacity  of  the  European  immigrants.  But, 
as  has  been  said  before,  during  the  first 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    409 

fifty  years  of  American  colonization  scarce 
ly  more  than  the  scum  of  Spain  crossed 
the  Atlantic  to  settle  in  the  Indies.  Those 
immigrants  first  ignored,  and  then  defied 
the  governing  power  of  Madrid,  and  were 
subject  only  to  the  whims  and  ambition  of 
whatever  conquistador  happened,  for  the 
time  being,  to  be  in  the  ascendency.  The 
conquistadores  were  in  the  main  men  of 
low  extraction,  who  by  daring  deeds  of 
valor,  and  by  chance,  were  in  several  in 
stances  converted  into  veritable  monarchs 
who  barely  acknowledge  allegiance  to  the 
mother  country.  A  Cortez,  a  Pizarro,  an 
Alvarado,  an  Almagro  etc.  each  conquered, 
in  a  few  months,  a  vast  empire  with  a 
handful  of  followers.  Bach  of  these,  after 
wading  through  torrents  of  blood,  that  made 
them  callous  to  the  gentler  instincts  of 
humanity,  clamored  for  a  division  of  spoils, 
for  wealth  and  for  a  life  of  ease  and  de 
bauchery,  as  soon  as  the  semblance  of  order 
was  established  in  the  new  countries.  The 
conquistadores  were  compelled  to  yield  or 
fall.  The  thirst  for  wealth  and  gold  could 
only  be  satiated  at  the  expense  of  the 
natives.  No  doubt,  as  Las  Casas  demon 
strates  in  his  pamphlet,  thousands,  and  per 
haps  millions,  of  aboriginal  Americans 
perished  at  the  hands  of  the  Castilian  con- 


410    Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas 

querors.  It  is  nevertheless  to  the  credit  of 
Spain  that  in  less  than  three  quarters  of  a 
century  it  brought  order  out  of  chaos  in 
America,  and  placed  not  less  than  thirty- 
five  millions  of  savages  (including  the 
Filipinos)  on  the  way  to  civilization.  If 
we  look  at  the  map  of  the 'world  at  the 
present  time  and  read  the  history  of  the 
past  four  centuries,  we  find  that  scarcely  a 
tribe  has  been  brought  within  the  pale  of 
Christian  civilization  during  that  period, 
except  by  Spain.  Look  over  the  almost 
limitless  possessions  of  the  colonizing 
nations,  England,  France  and  Holland,  and 
it  will  be  found  that  the  native  races  have 
either  disappeared  or  remained  strangers  to 
Christianity  or  European  civilization,  des 
tined  only  to  have  their  lifeblood  sucked 
out  of  them  for  the  enrichment  of  their 
white  masters.  * ) 

*)  Perhaps  an  exception  might  be  made  in  favor 
of  Russia,  who,  during  the  present  century  has  un 
doubtedly  extended  the  confines  of  civilization  and 
of  Christendom  in  a  westerly  and  southwesterly 
direction. 

History  seems  to  teach  that  savage  nations  can  be 
civilized  only  by  a  strongly  centralized  and  absolute 
government  in  combination  with  a  compact  union 
of  Church  and  state.  Under  every  form  of  represen 
tative  government  the  weaker  race  invariable  suc 
cumbs  to  the  stronger  and  nothing  remains  but  the 
survival  of  the  fittest.  Watch  South  Africa  where 
a  cruel  war  is  now  (Dec.  1899)  raging  between  two 


Life  of  Bartd!om£  de  Las  Casas.    411 

I  will  end  this  chapter  with  an  extract 
from  Las  Casas'  Brevisima  Relation  de  la 
Destruction  de  Las  Indias.  It  will  give 
an  idea  of  the  bitter,  caustic  and  ex 
aggerated  style  of  that  famous  work.  It 
will  also  check  our  inclination  to  hero- 
worship,  as  he  will  tell  us  what  he 
thought  of  Ponce  de  Leon,  Panfilo  de 
Narvaez,  and  of  Hernando  de  Soto. 

"To  that  province  (Florida)  have  gone 
at  different  times  three  tyrants,  beginning 
with  the  year  1510  or  1511**)  to  do  the 
work  that  others  had  done  elsewhere. 
Two  of  them  (Ponce  de  Leon  and  Panfilo 
de  Narvaez)  had  reached  positions  in 
other  parts  of  the  Indies,  disproportionate 
with  their  former  condition,  through  the 
blood  and  deaths  of  their  fellow-men 
(the  Indians).  All  three  of  them  died 
bad  deaths,  and  lost  their  lives  and 
the  fortunes,  which  they  had  accumulated 
by  shedding  human  blood.  I  was  ac- 

peoples  of  teutonic  descent.  Let  the  English  or  the 
Boer  be  the  victor,  it  matters  not.  The  black  man 
in  either  case  is  doomed. 

**)  School  books  generally  tell  us  that  the  dis 
coverer  of  Florida  was  Ponce  de  I/eon,  and  that  he 
landed  in  1512.  Las  Casas  tells  us  more  than  once 
that  the  first  white  men  to  land  in  Florida  were 
certain  kidnappers  of  Indians,  who  stumbled  on  the 
northern  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  not  later  than 
1511. 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

quainted  with  all  three  of  them,  and  their 
memory  is  now  forgotten  as  if  they  had 
never  lived.  They  left  in  that  land 
(Florida)  scandals  and  their  names  in  ab 
horrence  on  account  of  certain  massacres 
of  which  they  were  guilty.  These  mas 
sacres  however  were  not  numerous,  as 
God  killed  them  before  they  could  do 
more  of  their  work.  Almighty  God  had 
selected  that  country  as  the  place  where 
condign  punishment  was  to  be  administ 
ered  for  the  crimes,  which  I  knew  they 
were  guilty  of  in  other  parts  of  the  In 
dies,  of  which  I  was  an  eye  witness. 
The  fourth  tyrant  (Hernando  de  Soto) 
began  his  expedition  after  much  prepa 
ration  and  with  great  eclat  as  late  as  1538. 
It  is  now  three  years  since  anything  was 
seen  or  heard  of  him.  I  feel  certain  that, 
as  soon  as  he  landed,  he  began  his  cruelties, 
and  then  disappeared,  or,  if  he  is  living, 
that  he  and  his  followers  have,  during  the 
last  three  years,  destroyed  many  people 
wherever  they  found  them  ;  for  he  (Her 
nando  de  Soto)  is  an  experienced  leader  in 
such  works,  and  one  of  those,  who,  to 
gether  with  his  followers,  did  most  harm, 
and  caused  most  destruction  in  many  pro 
vinces  and  kingdoms.  But  I  am  inclined 
to  think  that  God  meted  out  to  him  the 
same  fate  that  he  had  visited  on  the  others. 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    413 

Three  or  four  years  after  I  had  written 
the  foregoing  there  came  forth,  out  of  that 
land  of  Florida,  the  other  tyrants,  who 
had  followed  the  chief  tyrant,  whom  they 
left  behind  dead.  From  them  I  learned 
of  the  unheard  of  cruelties  and  barbarities, 
which,  especially  during  his  life  time, 
but  also  after  his  unhappy  death,  those 
inhuman  men  had  there  perpetrated  against 
the  innocent  and  harmless  ones  of  that 
country,  as  if  what  I  had  foretold,  was 
bound  to  be  fulfilled.  So  many  were  the 
said  cruelties  as  to  prove  the  truth  of  the 
rule  laid  down  at  the  beginning  of  this 
work  that  the  further  they  proceeded  in 
their  discoveries,  in  their  massacres  and  de 
struction  of  people,  the  greater  were  their 
iniquities  and  outrages  against  God  and 
against  their  neighbors.  I  am  sick  of  re 
counting  so  many,  so  horrible  and  bloody 
works,  not  of  men,  but  of  savage  beasts, 
and  I  care  not  to  write  of  more  than  the 
following.  They  oppressed  them  and 
killed  them  using  them  as  beasts  of  burden. 
The  wretches,  so  loaded,  were  made  to 
march  in  single  file  chained  one  to  the 
other  by  their  necks,  and  if  any  one  of  them 
got  tired  or  fainted,  they  cut  his  head  with 
a  sword,  this  falling  to  one  side  and  the 
body  to  the  other;  and  thus  they  spared 


414    Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

themselves  the  trouble  of  unchaining  those, 
who  went  before  him  in  the  way  that  I  have 
described  before.  They  entered  a  pueblo, 
where  they  were  received  with  signs  of  re 
joicing,  and  where  they  got  plenty  to  eat 
and  more  than  six  hundred  Indians,  des 
tined  to  be  their  carriers  and  their  order 
lies.  On  leaving  the  place  one  of  the 
captains,  a  relative  of  the  chief  tyrant,  re 
turned  to  the  town,  and  sacked  it  after  hav 
ing  killed  the  cacique  and  done  other  cruel 
ties.  In  another  pueblo,  where  the  people, 
who  had  heard  of  the  horrible  and  infamous 
deeds  of  the  Spaniards,  were  shy  of  them, 
they  killed  everybody,  men,  women  and 
children. 

The  tyrants  cut  the  noses  of  many.  On 
one  occasion,  when  some  two  hundred  In 
dians  had  come  to  camp  either  uninvited, 
or  because  they  had  been  summoned  to  do 
so  by  the  tyrants,  they  cut  the  noses  of 
them  all,  and  sent  them  back  so  disfigured, 
in  torments  and  in  blood,  to  spread  the 
news  of  the  works  and  miracles  of  those 
preachers  of  the  Holy  Catholic  faith.  Now 
imagine  the  dispositions  of  those  people, 
how  they  must  love  the  Christians,  how 
readily  believe  in  their  religion,  and  in 
their  God.  Enormous  and  abominal  were 
the  atrocities  committed  in  that  land  by 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    415 

those  miserable  men,  tlie  children  of  per 
dition.  Thus  died  their  hapless  leader 
(De  Soto)  without  confession,  and  I  doubt 
not  that  he  was  buried  in  hell,  unless  per 
chance  God  dealt  with  him  according  to 
his  exceeding  mercy,  and  not  according  to 
the  man's  deserts." 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
Las  Casas  a  Bishop. 

new  laws  were  dispatched  to  every 
officer  of  trie  crown,  to  every  bishop 
and  priest,  and  to  every  white  settlement  in 
the  Indies.  While  they  were  being  dis 
cussed  in  Valladolid,  every  district  in  Ame 
rica  was  represented  by  procurators,  who 
swarmed  around  the  government  offices, 
endeavoring,  by  hook  or  crook,  to  prevent 
their  enactment.  As  soon  as  their  promul 
gation  had  became  known  in  Spain,  the 
American  settlers  were  informed  by  their 
agents  that  the  author,  or  at  least  the  pro 
moter  of  them  had  been  Fray  Bartolome 
de  L,as  Casas.  The  answers  that  began, 
a  few  months  later,  to  pour  into  Spain 
from  beyond  the  Atlantic  were  filled  with 
abuse  and  calumnies  against  the  Protector 
of  the  Indians.  Many  of  them  are  spicy, 
and  afford  entertaining  reading  matter. 
Here  is  one  written  in  the  name  of  the 
town  council  of  Guatemala  city,  informing 
the  council  of  the  Indies  of  the  state  of 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    417 

the  popular  mind  in  reference  to  the  new 
laws.  It  begins  thus  : 

"They  (the  people)  speak  very  boldly 
against  the  emperor,  and  ask  if  this  is 
the  way  he  repays  them  for  their  twenty 
and  thirty  years  services  in  conquering 
for  him  at  the  peril  of  their  lives  and 
without  any  expense  to  him,  so  many 
and  so  distant  lands." 

They  end  the  description  of  the  popu 
lar  clamor  against  the  laws  by  quoting 
their  saying:  "If  these  laws  are  enforced 
many  will  very  likely  die  of  despair. " 

Then  Las  Casas  gets  pepper. 

4 'It  is  reported,  they  say,  that  Fray 
Bartolome  de  Las  Casas  had  a  hand  in 
drafting  this  cruel  sentence  against  them, 
and  they  claim  to  be  astonished  that  so 
old  an  institution  (the  Repartimientos) 
and  so  well  thought  of  by  many  learned 
ecclesiastics,  could  be  upset  by  an  ignorant 
friar,  who  is  anything  but  a  saint ;  jeal 
ous,  vain,  irascible,  restless,  scandalous, 
and  so  disagreeable  that  he  was  expelled 
from  every  place  in  these  Indies,  in  which 
he  has  been.  They  can  not  bear  him  in 
any  monastery,  and  he  obeys  nobody  and 
is  always  on  the  go.  In  this  city  and 
province  alone  could  he  remain  through 
the  indulgence  of  our  bishop.  We  bore 
27 


418    Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

with,  him  and  sent  him  with  an  abundance 
of  money  to  get  more  friars.  But  he  pre 
ferred  to  make  a  show  of  himself  by  his 
passions,  doing  harm  to  everybody  in 
general,  in  order  to  revenge  himself  of 
individuals,  rather  than  do  what  we  had 
sent  him  to  do.  He  says  that  he  spent 
in  these  parts  thirty  or  more  years.  Those 
thirty  years  he  spent  in  Hispaniola  and 
Cuba,  where  the  Indians  disappeared  in  a 
short  time,  and  he  helped,  to  some  ex 
tent,  to  kill  them.  He  did  no  more  than 
pass  through  this  country  on  his  way  to 
Mexico,  and  as  he  found  no  audience  to 
listen  to  his  scandalous  declamations  and 
denunciations,  he  came  back  to  us  be 
cause  he  thinks  that  we  are  fools.  He 
can  give  no  information  about  the  Indians 
of  New  Spain,  and  what  he  saw  here  on  the 
roads  through  which  he  passed,  is,  that  the 
Indians  are  well  instructed.  Would  to 
God  that  Fray  Bartolome  would  come  with 
his  soldiers  (a  reference  to  his  Cumana 
venture)  to  make  the  conquest,  which,  it  is 
reported,  he  asked  should  be  given  in  his 
charge.  He  would  then  give  us  one  more 
proof  of  his  vanity  and  of  his  ignorance, 
and  he  himself  would  revenge  us  for  the 
rancor  he  has  displayed  against  us." 

The  colony  of  Guatemala,  with  its  well 


Life  of  BartolomG  de  Las  Casas.    419 

bred  Alonso  Maldonado  as  governor,  and 
the  zealous  and  energetic  Marroquin  as  its 
bishop,  was  one  of  the  most  conservative 
and  best  behaved  in  America.  What  must 
have  been  the  rage  and  fury  of  the  colonists 
elsewhere,  when  it  became  known  that  Las 
Casas  practically  and  substantially  was  the 
author  of  the  new  laws? 

But  what  cared  he  for  the  faraway 
murderous  conquistadores?  He  had  fulfilled 
his  mission  and  saved  the  American  race 
from  extermination.  And  had  he  not 
earned  the  esteem  and  plaudits  of  all  his 
countrymen,  whose  good  opinion  was  worth 
having,  to  say  nothing  of  the  gratitude 
and  love  of  countless  helpless  fellow-men 
beyond  the  Atlantic? 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1543  the 
court  of  Spain  was  sitting  at  Barcelona, 
and  Las  Casas  went  there  also  to  thank 
Charles  V.  for  having  enacted  the  new  laws 
in  favor  of  the  Indians.  One  Sunday 
evening  Francisco  de  Los  Cobos,  the  secre 
tary  of  the  bureau  for  Indian  affairs,  pre 
sented  himself  to  the  Protector  of  the  In 
dians  to  hand  him  an  imperial  decree  de 
signating  him  as  the  first  bishop  of  the  new 
See  of  Cuzco,  in  Peru.  Los  Cobos  presented 
at  the  same  time  an  earnest  request  of  his 
majesty  to  Fray  Bartolome  that  he  accept 


420    Life  ofBartolomd  d'e  Las  Casas. 

the  mitre.  L,as  Casas  politely  declined  re 
ceiving  the  document  on  the  plea,  that  be 
ing  a  friar,  his  superiors  must  first  be  con 
sulted  on  the  subject. 

He  had  not  forgotten  that  twenty-two 
years  before,  very  near  that  same  city  of 
Barcelona  in  the  presence  of  the  highest 
court  officials  he  had  solemnly  and  impas- 
sionately  said  to  the  emperor  : 

"That  my  meaning  may  not  be  mis 
understood,  I  hereby  renounce  and  decline 
any  favor  or  temporal  reward  that  your 
majesty  may  hereafter  offer  me.  And 
should  it  come  to  pass  that  I,  either  per 
sonally  or  through  a  third  person,  directly 
or  indirectly,  should  solicit  any  favor  or 
reward  for  my  services,  I  am  willing  to  be 
branded  as  a  liar  and  a  traitor  to  my  king. ' ' 

That  however  was  not  the  only  reason 
for  declining  the  bishopric  of  Cuzco.  He 
could  have  done  so  without  breaking  his 
word,  for  the  mitre  of  that  See,  on  which 
were  set  more  thorns  than  jewels,  could 
scarcely  have  been  considered  as  a  reward. 
He  could  otherwise  have  accepted  it  on  the 
plea  that  it  was  his  duty  to  comply  with 
the  wishes  of  his  sovereign  and  not  refuse 
the  burden.  I  reckon  that  his  real  reason 
for  not  accepting  the  proffered  honor,  was 
because  he  did  not  think  himself  the  proper 


Life  ofBariolomti  de  Las  Casas.    421 

person  to  fill  the  See  of  Cuzco  under  tlie 
conditions  then  prevailing  in  Peru.  He 
had  called  that  country  "Aquel  infierno  del 
Peru"  ("that  hell  of  Peru").  And  indeed 
it  was  little  better  just  when  he  was  called 
upon  to  become  the  bishop  of  Cuzco,  the 
largest  Indian  town  of  the  empire  of  the 
Iticas,  where  a  handful  of  Spaniards,  after 
having  massacred  thousands  of  the  Indians, 
were  ready  at  any  moment  to  cut  each 
others  throats.  In  less  than  four  years 
time,  Peru  had  seen  two  bloody  revolutions, 
and  was  now  prepairing  for  another.  Cuzco 
itself  had  seen  the  execution  of  Almagro 
the  partner  of  Pizarro  in  the  conquest  in 
1538,  and  that  of  his  half  breed  son  in  1542, 
while  Pizarro  himself  had  been  assassinated 
at  Lima  June  the  26th,  1541.  Blasco 
Nunes  de  Vela  was  then  about  to  sail  for 
Peru  as  its  first  viceroy  to  publish  and  to 
enforce  the  new  laws,  which,  in  that 
country  meant  the  total  abolition  of  the 
Repartimientos  and  the  shattering  of  colos 
sal  fortunes  accumulated  or  to  be  accumu 
lated  through  the  labors  of  the  Indians. 
Las  Casas,  to  whom  every  ship  arriving  in 
Spain  from  the  new  world,  brought  a  bag 
of  letters  from  almost  every  part  of  the  In 
dies,  where  Spaniards  had  settled,  was  well 
informed  of  the  state  of  affairs  in  Peru. 


422    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

Blasco  Nuiies  was  liot  headed,  proud  and 
unyielding.  His  attempt  to  enforce  the 
new  laws  ended  first  in  revolution  and  then 
in  open  rebellion,  during  which  he  lost  his 
life.  Pedro  de  La  Gasca,  his  successor  was 
compelled  to  yield  in  the  matter  of  those 
same  new  laws  and  agree  to  a  compromise. 
Clearly  Las  Casas,  the  promoter,  if  not  the 
author,  of  the  laws  was  not  the  man  to  be 
come  the  bishop  of  the  largest  diocese  in 
the  country,  and  another  Dominican,  Juan 
Solano  was  appointed  instead. 

But  cardinal  Loaysa,  who  had  been  in 
strumental  to  the  first  American  priest  be 
ing  selected  as  bishop  of  Cuzco,  thought 
that  the  best  informed  and  the  most  zealous 
ecclesiastic  in  the  Indies,  should  wear  a 
mitre.  Chiapa,  or  as  it  was  then  called, 
Ciudad  Real  de  Chiapa  in  the  province  of 
Guatemala  had  been  lately  erected  into  a 
diocese,  and  Juan  de  Arteaga  had  been  se 
lected  to  be  its  first  bishop.  But  he  died 
in  the  city  of  Puebla,  in  Mexico,  while  on 
his  way  to  take  possession  of  his  See.  The 
diocese  of  Chiapa  was  contiguous  to  the 
land  of  war,  which,  by  a  special  decree 
approved  by  the  pope,  was  annexed  to  its 
jurisdiction.  Las  Casas  was  therefore 
nominated  bishop  of  Chiapa.  He  declined 
the  mitre  a  second  time.  But  his  prayers, 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    423 

his  tears,  his  protests  were  all  in  vain.  The 
wishes  of  the  king,  the  command  of  his 
superiors,  the  good  of  his  children  of  Tuzu- 
lutlan  caused  him  at  last  to  yield. 

While  waiting  for  the  papal  bulls  author 
izing  his  consecration,  L,as  Casas  went  from 
Barcelona  to  Toledo,  where  a  general 
chapter  of  the  Dominican  provinces  was 
then  in  session.  The  object  of  his  journey 
was  to  beg  the  superiors  of  the  order  there 
assembled,  to  allow  him  to  select  quite  a 
large  number  of  Fathers  willing  to  work 
in  faraway  Chiapa  in  the  evangelization  of 
the  Indians.  Not  less  than  sixty  volun 
teered,  and  L,as  Casas  accepted  them  all, 
although  ultimately  only  forty-five  sailed 
with  him  for  America,  thirty-five  priests, 
five  deacons  and  as  many  lay  brothers. 
They  came  from  different  parts  of  Spain 
and  were  directed  to  gather,  some  at  Sala 
manca,  and  others  at  Valladolid,  whence  all 
were  to  unite  in  Seville  to  sail  from  the 
neighboring  port  of  San  Lucar  de  Barra- 
meda.  Twelve  Franciscans  were  also  en 
gaged  for  the  new  diocese. 

L,as  Casas'  presentation,  by  Charles  V., 
to  the  bishopric  of  Chiapa  must  have  been 
made  and  accepted  in  1543,  but  the  papal 
bulls  authorizing  his  consecration  were  not 
signed  by  Pope  Paul  III.  until  the  i9th  of 


424    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

December  of  the  same  year.  Much  of  trie 
intervening  time  was  employed  in  recruit 
ing  and  getting  together  the  friars  in  Se 
ville,  in  obtaining  from  different  sources 
large  supplies  of  church  vestments,  bells, 
and  books  for  so  large  a  number  of  mis- 
sioners  and  many  other  things  necessary  to 
a  bishop's  establishment  in  a  new  diocese 
in  a  new  country. 

Between  his  election  to  the  mitre  of 
Chiapa  and  his  departure  for  America,  L,as 
Casas  wrote  a  memorial  addressed  to 
Charles  V.,  lately  published  by  Antonio 
Fabie,  which  denotes  a  comprehensive  in 
formation  about  men  and  events  then  tran 
spiring  in  revolutionary  Peru  and  South 
America.  The  document  consists  of  twenty 
closely  printed  octavo  pages,  in  which, 
after  having  denounced  in  his  usual  forcible 
style,  the  barbarities  of  the  Spaniards  in 
the  Indies,  he  boldly  advises  the  emperor 
to  sequester  all  the  estates  and  all  the 
wealth  of  the  Conquistadors  in  Peru. 
"Your  Majesty,"  says  he,  "will  act  justly 
and  do  a  thing  pleasing  to  God  in  depriv 
ing  such  wicked  transgressors  against  the 
laws  of  God  and  your  own  of  all  their 
wealth,  which  is  not  theirs,  but  stolen  from 
your  Majesty's  vassals,  etc." 

The  emperor  is  advised  to  restore  said 


Life  o/  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    425 

wealth  to  tlieir  rightful  owners,  when  pos 
sible,  and  when  not  possible  to  divide  it 
into  two  shares,  one  of  which  should  go  to 
the  Conquistadores  in  case  they  should 
elect  to  live  in  America,  and  the  other  to 
become  public  property  and  the  interest 
thereof  to  be  spent  for  the  public  weal. 

With  as  much  directness  and  as  plainly 
as  a  prime  minister  would  have  done  in 
presenting  a  schedule  of  appointments  to 
vacant  offices,  L,as  Casas  passes  next  to  tell 
the  emperor  what  measures  should  be  taken 
and  what  kind  of  men  should  be  sent  to 
Peru  to  reestablish  law  and  order  in  that 
distracted  country.  uYour  Majesty  must 
arrange  to  sent  viceroy  Don  Antonio  de 
Mendoza  to  the  provinces  of  Peru,  with 
supreme  power  from  yourself  over  the 
Audiencia  and  everybody  else.  On  arriv 
ing  there  he  will  reestablish  order  and 
settle  all  contentions,  by  getting  out  of  the 
country  all  individuals  dangerous  to  public 
peace,  especially  the  son  of  Almagro  and 
his  principal  followers  and  all  the  leaders 
of  the  two  factions  of  Pizarro  and  Almagro, 
because  it  is  expedient  that  not  a  man,  who 
has  distinguished  himself  on  either  side, 
remain  in  all  that  country." 

Whoever  studied  subsequent  events  in 
the  history  of  Peru  can  surmise  that  the  ad- 


426    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

vice  of  Las  Casas  was  acted  upon  by 
Charles  V.,  as  far  as  the  appointments  in 
the  government  of  that  country  were  con 
cerned.  Instead  of  despoiling  the  Con- 
quistadores  of  their  wealth,  it  is  well  known 
that  the  spirit  of  revolt  brewing  every 
where  in  Spanish  America  soon  compelled 
the  Spanish  rulers  to  suspend  and  partially 
abrogate  the  new  laws,  thus  opening  to  the 
Spaniards  in  America  a  door  to  more  thefts 
and  to  more  oppression  of  the  Indians  for  a 
time,  at  least. 

Two  months  of  the  year  1544  had  come 
and  gone,  and  the  papal  bulls  necessary  to 
make  the  first  American  priest  a  •  bishop 
had  not  yet  arrived  in  Spain.  Impatient 
of  further  delay,  and  on  account  of  the 
large  daily  expense  necessary  to  the  main- 
tainance  of  his  numerous  suite,  L,as  Casas 
decided  to  use  the  privilege,  which  had 
been  granted  to  Spanish  bishops-elect  of 
taking  possession  of  their  Sees,  with  the 
consent  of  the  king,  before  their  consecra 
tion.  On  the  5th  of  March,  1544,  he  bade 
farewell  to  his  friends  at  court,  and  de 
parted  for  Seville.  In  a  letter  dated  in  that 
city  the  2ist  of  March  and  addressed  to 
Prince  Philip  he  says:  u We  left  court  on 
Tuesday  the  4th  inst. ,  and  it  took  us  six 
teen  days  to  come  here  on  account  of  the 


Life  o/  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    427 

long  rains  and  bad  roads.  .....  We  have 

received  a  letter  from  the  court  informing 
us,  that  our  bulls  arrived  two  days  after 
our  departure.  It  seems  that  Our  L,ord 
does  not  wish  to  pay  us  in  this  world  for 
the  little  trials  that  we  are  undergoing  for 
love  of  him.  We  would  otherwise  have 
been  very  proud  to  have  your  Highness 
stand  our  godfather  at  our  consecration. 
The  bulls  have  not  yet  reached  here.  We 
could  not  come  here  by  the  way  of  Toledo 
because  the  man  we  had  engaged  to  carry 
our  luggage,  would  not  agree  to  it.  We 
would  have  liked  to  do  so  in  order  to  speak 
to  the  provincial  of  the  Franciscans  about 
the  twelve  friars,  of  whom  only  four  have 
yet  arrived  here.  I  beg  you  to  have  a 
letter  written  to  him,  telling  him  to  send 
the  others  as  soon  as  possible,  if  they  wish 
to  sail  with  us"  etc. 

Las  Casas  was  consecrated  bishop  on  the 
3ist  of  March,  1544,  as  appears  from  the 
following  written  in  Seville  and  again  ad 
dressed  to  Prince  Philip.  "Today,  Pas 
sion  Sunday,  Our  L,ord  was  pleased  to  give 
me  the  glory  of  my  consecration,  while  on 
the  same  day,  according  to  the  liturgy  of 
the  Church,  he  suffered  ignominy.  I  don't 
know  what  His  Divine  Majesty  may  have 
had  in  view  in  arranging  things  in  that 


428    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

way.  But  it  could  not  have  been  done 
sooner,  and  there  was  no  time  to  wait 
longer,  because  the  ships  are  in  a  hurry  to 
sail.  The  cardinal  (of  Seville)  was  very 
kind  to  me.  His  nephew  or  relative, 
bishop  lyoaysa,  was  the  consecrator,  and 
the  bishop  of  Honduras  and  bishop  Torres 
were  the  assistants.  The  bishop  of  Hon 
duras  was  to  sail  seven  or  eight  days  ago, 
but  in  spite  of  the  expense  he  was  put  to, 
in  doing  so,  poor  as  he  is,  he  waited  to 
participate  in  the  consecration.  I  would 
like  to  compensate  him,  if  I  had  the  where- 
withs.  I  humbly  request  you,  and  would 
be  much  obliged  to  your  Highness,  if  you 
should  do  something  for  him  to  repay  him 

for  what  he  did  for  me 

I  beg  your  Highness  that,  for  the  love  of 
God,  you  see  to  it  that  the  Indians  of  Cuba, 
according  to  the  will  and  kindness  of  his 
Majesty,  be  set  free  before  their  masters 
have  a  chance  to  destroy  and  kill  them  all, 
because  they  are  among  those  who  have 
been  most  oppressed,  afflicted  and  deci 
mated.  As  archdeacon  Albaro  de  Castro  is 
now  dead,  who  had  been  charged  by  your 
Highness  with  the  care  of  the  Indians  of 
Hispaniola,  let  your  Highness  appoint 
some  good  and  conscientious  person,  or  an 
ecclesiastic  to  see  to  it  that  they,  few  as 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    429 

they  are,  be  not  deprived  of  the  remedy  and 
mercy  which  His  Majesty  has  dispensed  to 
them.  It  seems'  to  me  that  it  would  be 
well  to  give  this  charge  to  Alvaro  de  L,eon 
who  is  a  canon  of  the  cathedral  of  L,a 
Vega,  or  to  Gregorio  de  Viguera,  the  dean 
of  the  same  Cathedral. " 

It  seems  that  the  first  American  priest 
never  took  pen  in  hand  to  write  without 
saying  something  in  favor  of  the  Indians. 
At  the  risk  of  being  accused  of  prolixity  I 
cannot  refrain  translating  almost  in  toto  the 
following  long  letter  addressed  from  Seville 
to  the  same  august  correspondent  on  the 
20th  of  April,  1544. 

"Your  Highness  commands  me  to  send 
you  the  names  of  all  the  friars  who  are 
about  to  sail  with  me.  I'll  do  so  when, 
please  God,  we  shall  have  them  all  together 
in  San  L,ucar.  Now  we  have,  I  believe, 
forty-three  of  them,  and  I  know  that  some 
more,  seven  or  eight,  will  come  from  this 
province,  and  they  are  men  of  great  virtue 
and  zeal.  We  would  have  more,  but  sev 
eral,  more  than  six  or  seven,  of  those  who 
were  to  come  from  Castile,  have  not  put  in 
an  appearance,  some  because  they  lost 
heart, -others  because  they  were  prevented 
by  legitimate  reasons,  who,  said  reasons 
disappearing,  we  hope,  will  follow  us  later. 


430    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

I  wisli  you  would  speak  to  the  prior-elect 
of  this  province,  who  was  formerly  prior  of 
St.  Paul's  convent  at  Valladolid.  He  is  a 
true  servant  of  God,  and  zealous  for  the 
salvation  of  those  people  of  the  Indies. 
Urge  him  to  use  his  influence  in  sending 
his  friars  to  those  countries.  And  inas 
much  as  this  convent  of  St.  Paul  of  Seville 
is  very  necessary  to  the  friars,  that  your 
Highness  will  continue  to  send  to  the  In 
dies,  and  inasmuch  as  every  thing  in  this 
city  (it  is  frightful)  costs  one-third  more 
than  in  Valladolid,  and  consequently  ex 
penses  are  that  much  higher,  I  would 
humbly  beg  you  to  always  remember  it  in 
the  distributions  of  alms  left  by  deceased 
persons,  because  I  believe  that  they  would 
do  as  much  good  to  the  departed  donors,  as 
if  they  were  given  for  the  maintainance  of 
the  friars,  who  go  to  preach  the  Gospel  in 
the  countries,  where  those  funds  were  per 
haps  unlawfully  accumulated.  In  fact,  I 
believe  that  the  shelter  and  good  treatment, 
which  the  friars  receive  here,  encourage 
them  somewhat  not  to  make  too  much  of 
the  trials,  which,  they  generally  believe, 
await  them  in  the  Indies.  It  has  already 
happened  on  the  contrary,  that  some  of 
them  got  discouraged  before  starting  be 
cause  they  were  not  treated  kindly.  Friars 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    431 

are  generally  timid  and  they  are  like  glass, 
when  they  go  out  of  their  convents. 

In  this  city  and  all  over  Andalusia  there 
are  a  great  number  of  Indians  unjustly  held 
in  slavery.  When  L,icenciado  Gregorio 
L,opez  was  out  here  to  investigate,  by  or 
der  of  His  Majesty,  he  published  an  order 
commanding  that  everybody  having  In 
dians  in  their  keeping  should  produce 
them.  But  many  were  hidden  away,  others 
were  sent  to  the  country  or  elsewhere.  I 
was  even  informed  by  a  person,  who  did  so 
to  clear  his  conscience,  that  there  has  been 
even  much  rascality  and  bribing  on  the 
part  of  some  wicked  sinners,  who,  for  the 
sake  of  three,  four,  or  ten  ducats,  did  not 
hesitate  to  commit  as  grievous  a  sin  against 
God  as  it  is  to  deprive  a  man  of  his  liberty, 
and  casting  many  Indians  in  perpetual 
slavery  by  hiding  the  truth,  or  by  making 
threats  against  them,  if  they  came  to 
Lopez,  or  otherwise  by  not  informing  the 
officers  of  the  things,  which  they  knew  and 
were  bound  to  report.  The  remedy  that 
should  be  applied  to  this  crying  injustice, 
according  to  the  opinion  of  the  officers  of 
this  Casa  de  contratacion ,  who  are,  as  far  as 
I  can  see,  very  virtuous  and  conscientious 
persons,  is  this.  Let  your  Highness  publish 
an  order  all  over  this  province  of  Andalu- 


432    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

sia,  that,  everybody  having  Indian  slaves, 
is  bound  to  produce  them  within  a  stated 
time  in  this  Casa  de  contratacion  under 
penalty  of  having  all  said  Indians  declared 
free.  And  here,  without  procrastination  or 
process  of  law,  but  according  to  the  direc 
tions  given  by  His  Majesty,  if  the  would- 
be-owner  can  produce  a  deed  of  sale,  let  the 
Indian  be  held  as  a  slave  until  it  can  be 
ascertained  how  he,  who  sold  the  Indian, 
got  him.  For  they  have  all  been  stolen 
and  sold,  on  being  landed  here.  And  the 
Indian  so  held  should  be  placed  where  he 
could  earn  something,  wherewith  to  clothe 
himself,  and  put  something  by,  to  pay  his 
way  back  to  his  native  country.  Other 
wise  he  will  be  subjected  to  a  thousand 
vexations  and  to  much  ill-treatment.  I 
have  seen  a  good  deal  of  this  kind  of  things 
here.  Since  they  found  out  that  I  am  here, 
St.  Paul's  convent  is  filled  every  day  with 
Indians,  who  come  to  me  under  the  impres 
sion  that  I  can  relieve  them  from  their 
captivity  and  oppression.  As  soon  as  their 
masters  find  it  out  by  their  momentary  ab 
sence  from  home,  they  whip  them  and  cast 
them  into  irons. 

I  would  take  the  responsibility  on  my 
conscience  and  answer  for  it  to  God  on  my 
deathbed,  if  your  Highness  should  cause  it 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    433 

to  be  published  that  every  Indian  in  these 
kingdoms  is  a  free  man,  as  by  right  he  is. 
....  These  Indians  are  in  extreme  neces 
sity  of  a  man  employed  to  look  after  their 
interests,  because  they  don't  know  how  to 
ask  for  justice,  and  they  have  been  so 
cowed  down,  that  they  dare  not  complain.'' 

The  Protector  of  the  Indians  proffers 
next  to  contribute  himself  twenty  ducats 
yearly  to  pay  a  salary  to  a  certain  Diego 
Collantes,  a  good  man,  and  the  porter  of 
the  Casa  de  contratacion,  if  crown-prince 
Philip  will  only  make  him  the  legal  attor- 
ney-in-fact  of  every  Indian  in  Andalusia. 

One  more  extract  that  sounds  like  a 
catechism  lesson  taught  to  the  future  king 
of  Spain,  Philip  II. 

"It  is  certainly  a  great  responsibility  of 
conscience  to  leave  these  Indians  in  this 
country.  As  they  come  in  contact  only 
with  street  loafers,  immoral  and  vicious 
people,  and  inasmuch  as  they  daily  see  the 
town  taverns  full  of  dissolute  individuals, 
and  are  witnessing  the  scandals  of  houses 
of  illfame,  they  being  men,  are  bound  soon 
to  fall  in  the  ways  of  those,  with  whom 
they  consort.  In  their  own  country  they 
live  indeed  better  than  they  do  here,  and 
better  than  many  Christians  live  here.  I 
beg  your  Highness  to  fix  things  sojthat  not 
28 


434    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

a  man  of  tliem  will  remain  in  this  king 
dom.'1 

On  the  4th  of  May  Las  Casas  wrote  again 
to  prince  Philip.  The  letter  begins  thus  : 
"In  the  five  letters  which  I  wrote  yon  in 
the  past  few  days,  on  account  of  the  hurry 
of  the  postmen,  and  on  account  of  many 
pressing  occupations,  I  forgot  to  tell  your 
Highness  something  that  you  ought  to 
know.  It  is  this.  A  letter  has  come  from 
the  Indies  saying  that  the  Franciscans  in 
New  Spain  were  writing,  that  no  more 
friars  were  needed  there.  Your  Highness 
must  know  that  this  is  an  artful  trick  of 
the  devil,  who  wishes  to  stop  the  inroads 
that  are  being  made  in  his  dominions"  etc. 

I  have  quoted  largely  from  Las  Casas' 
correspondence  at  this  period  of  his  life,  to 
show  how  great  an  ascendancy  he  had 
gained  on  Charles  V.,  and  especially  on  his 
son  Philip.  These  quotations  tell  of  quite 
a  large  number  of  requests  made  to  the 
crown  prince.  The  letters,  every  one  of 
which  was  answered,  speak  of  many  more, 
which  it  would  take  too  long  to  enumerate. 
It  will  be  gratifying  to  learn  that  all  of 
them  were  granted. 

This  correspondence  gives  us  also  an  in 
sight  of  the  how  and  by  whom  the  Western 
Continent  was  christianized.  Immediately 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    435 

after  the  conquest  of  Mexico,  there  began 
to  pour  into  America  real  phalanxes  of 
apostolic  men,  who  left  Spain  every  year 
by  the  hundred,  and  spread  themselves  in 
every  nook  and  corner  of  Spanish  America 
from  New  Mexico  and  Florida  to  Patagonia. 
They,  year  after  year,  pushed  farther  and 
farther  the  confines  of  civilization,  until, 
at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  scarcely 
a  pueblo  could  be  found  over  which  did  not 
tower  a  church  steeple.  The  city  of  Seville 
was  the  Jerusalem,  whence  issued  forth 
the  apostles,  who  converted  America.  St. 
Paul's  Dominican  convent,  where  the  first 
American  priest  lodged  more  than  once, 
was  the  cenacle  where  thousand  of  apos 
tolic  men  prayed  and  fasted  and  bade  fare 
well  to  home  and  country,  as  the  Apostles 
had  done  at  Jerusalem  between  Ascension 
Thursday  and  Pentecost  Sunday.  The 
bishops  consecrated  within  the  venerable 
cathedral  of  Seville  for  the  American  Mis 
sions  could  be  counted  by  the  hundred. 
Ancient  Seville  was  chosen  by  Divine  Pro 
vidence  to  be  the  link  connecting  the  new 
world  to  the  old  in  the  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth. 

Although  as  early  as  the  aoth  of  April, 
1544,  the  " ships  were  in  hurry  to  sail," 
L<as  Casas  did  not  leave  Seville  before  the 


436    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

ist  of  July.  Wliy?  Because  there  was 
work  for  him  to  do  there.  He  could  not 
leave  Spain  behind,  without  weeding  out  of 
it  the  pest  of  Indian  slavery,  which  threat 
ened  to  cast  roots  in  the  ancient  dominions 
of  his  most  Catholic  Majesty. 

Armed  with  the  new  laws,  helped  by  the 
different  religious  communities  of  Andalu 
sia,  and  backed  by  the  officers  of  the  Casa 
de  Coutratacion,  he  instituted  wholesale 
prosecutions  of  slave  holders,  and  did  not 
rest  until  the  shackles  of  the  unfortunates 
were  shattered.  Many  of  these  returned  to 
the  different  parts  of  America  to  sing  the 
praises  of  the  liberator  of  the  Indians. 

It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  first 
American  priest  had,  by  this  time,  become 
the  best  known  and  the  most  talked  about 
man  in  all  the  Indies ;  by  the  Indians,  who 
through  the  clergy  had  heard  of  him  and 
learned  to  love  him  as  their  friend  and  pro 
tector  ;  by  the  Spaniards,  who  hated  him 
and  looked  upon  him  as  their  greatest 
enemy. 

It  would  have  bankrupted  the  bishop  of 
Chiapa  to  entertain,  during  three  months, 
his  forty-five  Dominicans  and  the  Francis 
cans  beside  the  several  secular  priests,  who 
also  followed  him  to  America.  As  soon  as 
it  became  apparent  that  their  departure 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    437 


was  to  be  delayed  almost  indefinitely,  the 
immensely  wealthy  duke  of  Medina-Sido- 
nia,  whose  brother  was  a  Dominican,  en 
tertained  them  all  in  San  Linear,  where 
they  had  gathered  to  be  ready  to  sail  on 
short  notice.  They  did  not,  however, 
spend  their  time  in  idleness.  Helped  by 
the  Dominicans  of  Andalusia,  they  scattered 
themselves  in  every  neighboring  town  and 
village  and  begged  enough  in  cash  and  in 
kind  to  last  them  during  the  entire  voyage. 
The  feast  of  Corpus  Christi  was  that  year 
celebrated  with  unusual  solemnity  in  San 
lyiicar.  The  sixty  or  seventy  American 
missioners  filled  the  sanctuary  of  its  parish 
church  and  swelled  the  chorus  that  sang 
Pange  Lingua. 


;*^.=  r  v    aii*"  >    v""vp'     f 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Las   Casas  crosses   again   the  Atlantic  to 
take  possession  of  his  See. 

A  fleet,  i.  e.  twenty-six  merchant  ships, 
sailed  from  San  Lucar  de  Barameda  on  the 
loth  of  July,  1544,  for  the  Indies.  One  of 
them  was  named  San  Salvador,  on  which 
bishop  L,as  Casas  and  his  numerous  clergy 
had  taken  passage. 

What  beautiful  reveries  are  aroused  in 
the  mind  of  the  Christian  student  of  history 
as  he  beholds  the  little  craft  San  Salvador, 
(the  Holy  Saviour)  whose  figurehead  is 
Our  L^ord  himself  calming  the  waves,  and 
from  whose  masthead  floats  the  emblem  of 
Redemption !  Out  of  those  same  waters,*) 
whence  the  great  Genoese  mariner  had 
sailed,  fifty-two  years  before  on  his  Santa 
Maria  ( Holy  MaryJ ,  now  comes  forth  San 
Salvador  freighted  with  the  clergy  of  a 


*)  Palos  on  the  little  river  Pinto  and  San  Lucar 
on  the  Guadalquivir  are  but  a  few  miles  apart.  Both 
rivers  empty  into  the  same  bay. 

(438) 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    439 

whole  diocese.  But  one  successor  of  the 
apostles  is  there,  but  quite  the  number  of 
Our  Blessed  Lord's  disciples.  A  powerful 
man-of-war  heads  the  fleet,  on  which  is 
quartered  the  vice-queen  of  the  Indies, 
Dona  Maria  de  Toledo,  the  widowed 
daughter-in-law  of  Christopher  Columbus, 
and  the  friend  of  Las  Casas.  That  man- 
of-war  carries  an  even  more  precious 
treasure,  the  remains  of  the  Discoverer  of 
America.*)  These  had  been  lately  ex 
tracted  from  their  temporary  resting  place 
in  the  monastery  of  Las  Cuevas  near 
Seville,  to  be  re  buried,  according  to  his 
last  wishes,  on  the  soil  of  Hispaniola. 

The  scene  is  inspiring,  but  on  the  picture 
there  is  a  blot.  On  the  San  Salvador  sail 
with  Las  Casas  four  black  African  slaves, 
and  they  are  the  property  of  the  Protector 
of  the  Indians.  The  bishop  of  Chiapa, 
then  seventy  years  of  age,  had  not  yet 
learned  that,  if  it  was  wrong  to  trade  in 


*)  It  is  about  certain  that  the  remains  of  Colum 
bus  crossed  the  Atlantic  on  this  occasion.  It  is  cer 
tain  that  in  1542  they  were  not  yet  in  the  cathedral 
of  San  Domingo.  As  it  is  also  certain  that  it  was 
his  devoted  daughter-in-law  who  brought  over  the 
remains  of  the  discoverer  of  America,  and  that  she 
never  after  returned  to  Spain,  the  inference  drawn 
in  the  text  seems  to  be  legitimate.  The  remains  of 
Columbus  were  buried  in  the  present  cathedral  of 
San  Domingo,  which  was  finished  in  1544. 


440    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

Indian  slaves,  it  was  wrong  also  to  buy  or 
sell  the  children  of  the  black  continent. 
One  of  his  many  requests  to  Prince  Philip 
made  between  his  election  to  the  episcopal 
dignity  and  his  departure  for  America  was, 
that  (I  loathe  to  write  it)  he  be  allowed  to 
import,  free  of  duty,  to  the  Indies,  four 
Negro  slaves. 

The  San  Salvador  struck  bottom  in  clear 
ing  the  bar,  just  outside  of  the  port.  It 
buldged,  and  became  unseaworthy.  But 
with  the  rising  of  the  tide  it  proceeded,  al 
though  in  a  dangerous  condition,  as  far  as 
Gomara,  one  of  the  Canary  islands.  Ten 
days  were  spent  there  in  repairs  ;  but  most 
of  the  friars  could  not  be  persuaded  to  sail 
again  on  the  untrustworthy  San  Salvador 
and  took  passage  on  some  other  vessels. 

The  port  of  San  Domingo  in  Hispani- 
ola  was  reached  on  the  Qth  of  September, 
1544,  and  the  Dominicans  of  the  place 
came  processionally  to  meet  the  bishop  and 
his  clergy,  who,  amidst  rejoicings  and  the 
singing  of  the  Te  Deum  went  to  lodge  in 
the  oldest  Dominican  convent  in  America. 

But,  of  all  the  people  in  San  Domingo, 
the  Dominicans  were  alone  in  welcoming 
their  old  fellow  townsman  to  the  city.  The 
Henriquillo  affair  was  forgotten,  and  in 
L,as  Casas  the  San  Dominguians  saw  only 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    441 

the  author  of  the  new  laws.  Even  the 
judges  of  the  Audiencia,  except  chief 
justice  Cerrato,  joined  the  populace  in  in 
sulting  demonstrations  against  the  bishop 
of  Chiapa.  Indignation  meetings  were 
held  and  it  was  agreed  to  withhold  the 
usual  alms  which  the  Dominicans  collected 
from  door  to  door  according  to  the  rules  of 
the  mendicant  orders.  Threats  of  all  kinds 
were  made,  and  insults  offered  to  the  Pro 
tector  of  the  Indians.  He  suffered  all  in 
silence  for  the  love  of  God,  and  at  one  time 
thought  of  removing  to  the  Franciscan  con 
vent  to  relieve  the  Dominicans  from  the 
embarrassing  position  in  which  his  presence 
had  placed  them.  But,  cm  bonof  It  would 
only  transfer  the  persecution  from  one  to 
another  religious  community,  and  the  idea 
was  abandoned.  But  not  an  hour  did  he 
waver  in  his  resolve  to  leave  nothing  un 
done  to  stamp  out  Indian  slavery.  Only 
six  days  had  passed  when  he  wrote  to 
Prince  Philip  to  acquaint  him  with  the 
details  of  his  reception.  In  words  of  fire 
the  kidnappers  of  Indians  are  denounced, 
"who  steal  them  on  the  continent,  to  sell 
them  in  Hispaniola  and  Cuba."  "By 
fraud,"  he  said,  "they  succeeded  often  to 
brand  them  with  the  royal  brand  itself. " 
Bitter  complaints  that  the  proper  persons 


442    Life  ofBavtolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

were  not  chosen  to  iill  the  offices,  and  to 
execute  the  laws,  fill  another  page  of  the 
long  letter.  4  'A  deputation  of  Spaniards, 
amongst  them  some  friars,"  Las  Casas 
wrote,  "are  on  the  road  to  Spain,  to  appeal 
to  his  Majesty  against  the  new  laws. 
Should  it  be  decided  to  consider  their 
appeal,  let  them  be  detained  until  I  shall 
have  a  chance  to  answer  them.  I  am 
ready  to  meet  them  wherever  and  when 
ever  you  should  command  me." 

The  bishop  of  Chiapa  could  not  afford  to 
draw  on  the  cargo  of  provisions  brought 
over  from  Spain,  because  it  was  yet  a  long 
journey  by  water  and  by  land  from  San 
Domingo  to  Chiapa,  during  which  nearly 
one  hundred  persons  were  to  be  fed.  The 
ostracism,  or,  if  the  word  may  be  used,  the 
boycotting  of  the  Dominicans  by  the  San 
Dominguians  had  brought  the  community 
to  the  last  extremity.  In  their  dire  neces 
sities,  they  had  recourse  to  God.  In  relays 
of  eight  and  ten  the  days  and  nights  were 
spent  in  church,  to  implore  the  Divine  as 
sistance.  It  came.  The  Franciscans  be 
gan  quietly  to  furnish  meals  to  the  Sons  of 
St.  Dominic,  and  an  old  negro- woman  un 
dertook  to  make  daily  rounds  of  the  houses 
where  lived  the  few  God  fearing  people, 
and  ^her  collections  ( improved  from  day  to 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    443 

day.  From  which  it  appears,  that  a  por 
tion  of  the  population  were  after  all  the 
friends  of  religion  and  of  justice.  Among 
these  must  be  numbered  chief  justice  Cer- 
rato,  who  at  all  times  sided  with  the  friars 
in  endeavoring  to  enforce  the  new  laws. 
Vice-queen  Maria  de  Toledo  could  also 
have  given  material  assistance  to  the 
bishop  and  the  friars.  But  her  having  ar 
rived  in  the  company  of  L,as  Casas,  and  of 
her  own  brother,  who  was  a  Dominican, 
drew  upon  her  the  anger  of  the  populace, 
and,  in  spite  of  her  kinship  to  his  Catholic 
Majesty,  she  too  was  for  a  time  boycotted 
in  her  own  capital. 

Nothing  daunted,  the  Protector  of  the 
Indians  presented  himself  before  the  Audi- 
encia,  and,  in  the  name  of  the  king,  sum 
moned  the  judges  to  set  free  all  the  Indi 
ans  on  the  Island.  But  an  immemorial 
custom  and  the  practice  of  jurisprudence 
had  confirmed  to  the  subjects  of  the  Span 
ish  crown  the  ancient  right  of  protesting  to 
the  king  against  newly  enacted  laws, 
whenever  they  thought  them  prejudicial  to 
their  liberties  or  their  interests.  When 
this  was  done,  the  new  legislation  remained 
in  abeyance,  until  the  protest  was  accepted 
or  rejected.  <;Let  the  laws,"  said  the 
judges  of  the  Audiencia,  whose  principal 


444    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

wealth  consisted  in  slaves,  ube  obeyed,  but 
not  enforced."  And  a  deputation  was  ap 
pointed  to  go  to  the  king  and  to  have  them 
repealed  or  amended.  This  legal  subter 
fuge  postponed  in  most  places  the  eman 
cipation  of  the  Indians  almost  indefinitely. 

Pedro  de  Cordova  had  died,  Montesino 
was  elsewhere  and  new  friars  tenanted  the 
Dominican  convent.  Their  sermons  had 
no  longer  the  ring  of  those  preached  thirty 
years  before  in  the  presence  of  Diego  Co 
lumbus.  For  several  years  past  they  had 
preserved  a  discreet  silence  on  the  subject 
of  Indian  slavery.  Some  few  of  the  Do 
minicans  in  the  Indies  had  even  doubted  if 
the  opinion  so  universally  prevalent  amoiig 
interested  Spanish  settlers,  that  the  Indians 
were  natural  slaves  (servi  a  natura)  might 
not  be  the  true  one. 

History  will  scarcely  prove  more  useful 
than  romance  unless  we  draw  some  lessons 
from  it.  Had  the  clergy  of  these  southern 
states  of  the  American  union,  presented, 
during  the  past  one  hundred  years,  a  more 
solid  front;  had  they  been  bolder  and  less 
discreet,  much  oppression  and  tyranny 
would  have  been  prevented.  A  few  of  us 
would  have  fallen  by  the  assassin's  bullets, 
a  few  necks  would  perhaps  have  been 
twisted,  but  for  every  martyr's  life  a 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    445 

thousand  would  have  been  saved  of  the  in 
ferior  race,  whose  lot  was  cast  by  Providence 
in  our  midst. 

The  arrival  of  the  Protector  of  the  In 
dians  in  Hispaniola  aroused  the  drooping 
spirits  of  the  Dominicans  and  their  zeal. 
On  the  first  feast  day  following,  a  sermon 
was  preached  in  the  cathedral,  during 
which,  though  timidly  and  in  veiled 
phrases,  the  orator  condemned  Indian 
slavery.  Promptly  a  committee,  appointed 
by  the  town  council  and  by  the  cathedral 
chapter,  presented  themselves  to  the 
preacher  and  to  Father  Tomas  Casilla,  his 
superior,  to  protest  against  it.  They  en 
larged  on  the  disturbances  that  would  fol 
low  if  the  subject  of  Indian  slavery  was  not 
ignored  in  the  pulpit ;  the  friars  allowed 
themselves  to  be  bulldozed,  and  promised 
to  keep  silence  on  the  subject.  But,  to  use 
the  words  of  a  modern  biographer,  no 
sooner  had  the  committee  left  the  convent, 
than  the  Fathers  felt  ashamed  of  their 
cowardice  and  scarcely  dared  to  look  each 
other  in  the  face.  The  following  Sunday 
Tomas  Casilla  himself  ascended  the  pulpit, 
and  in  terms  that  could  not  be  misunder 
stood,  denounced  the  owners  of  Indian 
slaves.  He  felt  like  never  to  end  that 
sermon ;  for  during  its  delivery  ill  sup- 


446  Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

pressed  murmurs  of  disapproval  were  heard 
in  the  church  itself,  while  groups  of  angry 
men  formed  outside  of  it  to  discuss  it.  The 
proposition  was  even  advanced  of  shooting 
the  preacher  through  a  window  of  the 
church.  For  all  that  Casilla  ascended  the 
pulpit  once  more  on  All  Saints  day,  this 
time,  not  in  the  cathedral,  for  it  had  been 
shut  against  him,  but  in  his  own  convent 
church,  and  delivered  a  second  sermon  on 
the  same  subject.  His  apostolic  fearless 
ness  was  rewarded  ;  a  change  of  sentiments 
began  to  leaven  rapidly  among  the  people 
at  large,  and  in  three  months  time,  which 
were  spent  by  L,as  Casas  in  San  Domingo, 
the  rabid  and  wealthy  slave  owners  lost 
their  hold  on  the  masses  and  found  them 
selves  in  the  minority. 

Meanwhile  widow  Solano,  who  was 
thought  to  be  the  richest  person  in  Hi- 
spaniola,  called  at  the  convent  to  tell  the 
fathers  that  their  sermons  had  opened  her 
eyes,  and  that  she  was  convinced  that 
slavery  was  a  mortal  sin.  Her  two  hundred 
slaves  were  emancipated  at  once,  and  her 
wealth  was  placed  at  the  disposal  of  Las 
Casas  for  the  maintainance  of  the  mis- 
sioners  during  their  stay  in  San  Domingo, 
and  to  help  supporting  them  in  Chiapa. 
Mrs.  Solano's  example  and  the  exemplary 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    447 

lives  of  the  friars  under  trying  circum 
stances,  worked  so  great  a  revolution  of 
sentiments  in  the  city  that  their  departure 
for  Chiapa  was  generally  regretted. 

A  solemn  High  Mass  was  celebrated  that 
morning  by  a  friar  of  the  convent,  with  as 
deacon  and  subdeacon,  two  fathers  from 
the  monastery  of  the  Franciscans,  after 
which,  the  celebrant  made  to  the  bishop 
and  to  his  clergy  a  touching  farewell  ad 
dress.  Then  headed  by  cross  and  acolytes 
and  accompanied  by  the  Franciscan  and 
Dominican  communities,  the  bishop  of 
Chiapa  and  his  clergy,  secular  and  regular, 
proceeded  processionally,  through  the 
streets  of  San  Domingo,  to  the  ship  that 
was  to  land  them  in  Yucatan.  The  voyage 
would  have  probably  ended  disastrously, 
owing  to  the  ignorance  and  carelessness  of 
the  captain,  who  travelled  with  his  newly 
wedded  wife,  had  it  not  been  for  Las  Casas, 
who  was  no  mean  mariner,  and  practically 
took  charge  of  the  vessel. 

A  landing  was  made  on  the  day  of  the 
Epiphany,  1545,  at  the  port  of  San  Lazaro 
(Campeche).  The  diocese  of  Chiapa, 
roughly  speaking,  was  bounded  on  the  east 
by  the  Atlantic  ocean,  on  the  north  by  the 
diocese  of  Oaxaca,  on  the  west  by  the 
Pacific  ocean,  and  on  the  south  by  Guate- 


448    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

mala.  The  province  of  Tuzulutlan  had 
been  added  to  it  at  the  request  of  Las 
Casas  himself,  who  remarked  on  a  certain 
occasion,  that  his  jurisdiction  comprised 
the  half  of  New  Spain.  Campeche  was 
within  its  limits,  and  on  landing  at  the 
port  of  San  Lazaro  the  bishop  of  Chiapa 
had  at  last  set  foot  on  soil  that  was  in 
his  own  diocese.  Accordingly  the  parish 
priest  of  the  place,  accompanied  by  many 
Spaniards  and  a  multitude  of  Indians  in 
canoes,  came  to  meet  their  bishop  on 
board  his  ship.  Those  among  the  natives 
who  were  yet  pagans  presented  themselves 
naked,  while  the  Christians  wore  a  coarse 
cotton  blanket.  It  was  late  in  the  day  be 
fore  the  church  was  reached,  and  only  one 
Mass  was  celebrated,  at  which  bishop, 
priests  and  people  assisted.  Then  the 
Spaniards  first,  and  then  the  Indians  were 
admitted  to  kiss  the  episcopal  ring. 

The  Dominicans  went  to  lodge  in  dif 
ferent  houses  and  were  treated  everywhere 
courteously  and  with  generous  hospitality. 
Every  Sunday  one  of  them  preached  in  the 
church  ;  but,  by  order  of  the  bishop,  who 
wished  to  take  possession  of  his  diocese 
peacefully,  refrained  from  touching  on  the 
subject  of  slavery.  Every  day  at  the  sound 
of  the  bell  the  whole  community  gathered 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    449 

in  the  church  to  recite  the  office  in  com 
mon,  as  if  they  were  living  in  a  well  regu 
lated  monastery.  The  governor  of  Yuca 
tan  happened  to  be  absent,  but  his  lieuten 
ant,  on  being  notified  by  courier  of  the  ar 
rival  of  the  bishop,  sent  word  from  Merida, 
that  he  and  the  clergy  be  treated  as  well  as 
princes  of  the  royal  blood1  should  be.  In 
fact  the  friars  were  not  only  provided  with 
all  the  necessaries  and  comforts  which  the 
country  afforded,  but  were  loaded  with 
presents-  Their  superior  fearing  that  so 
much  generosity  on  the  part  of  the  slave 
owners  should  tie  their  tongues,  when  the 
time  to  speak  should  arrive,  ended  by 
gathering  them  all  together  and  reducing 
them  to  the  regularity  of  community  life. 
The  Spaniards,  in  order  to  comply  with 
the  orders  of  the  governor,  treated  the 
bishop  with  an  outward  show  of  politeness 
and  deference.  But  L,as  Casas,  while  ab 
staining  from  speaking  in  public  on  the 
subject  of  slavery,  let  no  occasion  pass  to 
admonish  his  flock  in  private  about  the 
wrong  done  to  the  Indians,  and  the  neces 
sity  of  enforcing  the  new  laws.  The  slave 
owners,  who  long  before  his  arrival,  knew 
how  large  a  hand  the  bishop  had  in 
framing  them,  listened,  but  not  a  slave 
did  they  free.  Purposely  misinterpreting 
29 


45°    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

the  decrees,  by  which  he  was  authorized 
to  take  possession  of  his  see,  they  refused 
to  acknowledge  him  as  their  bishop,  and  to 
pay  him  the  tithes  that  had  accrued  since 
the  time  he  had  set  sail  from  San  Lucar. 
Another  decree,  delivered  by  him  to  the 
officers  of  the  crown,  directed  them  to  pay 
certain  sums  that  were  due  him.  On  the 
same  pretext  it  was  also  ignored,  and  the 
bishop  found  himself  in  the  impossibility 
of  settling  with  the  captain  of  the  ship 
for  the  passage  of  himself  and  iiis  suite 
from  San  Domingo.  The  friars  came 
to  his  rescue  by  disposing  of  a  part  of  the 
goods  brought  over  from  Spain,  while  the 
parish  priest  loaned  the  bishop  one  hundred 
castellanos.  With  these,  and  his  note  for 
the  balance,  the  bishop  of  Chiapa  succeeded 
in  proceeding  to  his  see. 

The  distance  was  yet  great,  and  it  was 
found  almost  impossible  to  transport  by 
land  what  was  left  of  the  provisions,  the 
equipages  and  the  large  packages  of  eccles 
iastical  goods  destined  for  the  churches  to 
be  erected  in  the  new  diocese.  These  were 
loaded  on  an  old  natbottomed  craft  with  the 
intention  of  coasting  along  the  shore  as  far 
as  the  Tabasco  river,  on  which  they  could 
be  transported  to  within  a  short  distance  of 
the  city  of  Chiapa.  Twelve  of  the  friars 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    451 

sailed  on  the  rickety  flat,  and  two  days  later 
when  the  bishop  and  the  other  passengers 
were  ready  to  board  a  faster  vessel  to  fol 
low  them,  a  courier  brought  the  news  that 
their  companions  had  been  shipwrecked, 
that  nine  of  them  had  been  drowned,  and 
that  the  others  were  sheltered  in  Champo- 
ton,  an  Indian  village  near  the  shore. 
Provisions,  vestments,  church  vessels,  all 
were  lost.  The  news  of  the  catastrophe  so 
terrified  the  friars,  grouped  around  the 
bishop,  that  at  first  they  refused  to  go  with 
him  further  by  water.  But  the  venerable 
prelate,  pointing  to  the  clear  skies,  to  the 
favorable  winds,  to  the  new  boat,  succeeded 
at  last  in  gathering  them  on  board.  They 
sat  down  downcast  and  mute,  without  as 
much  as  looking  at  each  otjier.  Not  a 
wink  had  they  slept,  not  a  morsel  had 
they  eaten,  not  a  word  spoken  in  twenty- 
four  hours,  when  the  captain  pointed  out 
to  them  the  wreck.  Then  they  rose  on 
deck,  and,  amidst  tears  and  sobs,  chanted 
the  de  profundis  and  went  through  the 
office  for  the  dead. 

The  35th,  36th,  and  37th  verses  of  the 
XXVII.  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
describes  a  beautiful  scene  in  the  life  of  St. 
Paul.  It  was  repeated  on  board  the  ship, 
on  which  Las  Casas  travelled.  The  bishop 


452    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

of  Cliiapa  could  bear  no  longer  tlie  pusill 
animity  of  his  travelling  companions.  He 
himself  drew  out  of  the  pantry  bread,  wine, 
and  what  victuals  he  could  find,  set  them 
on  the  table,  sat  down,  and  by  word  and 
example  shamed  the  friars  into  partaking 
of  some  food.  Courage  and  cheerfulness 
were  thus  reestablished.  But  at  the  first 
sign  of  an  approaching  gale  he  directed  the 
captain  to  look  for  shelter,  which  was  found 
behind  Carmen  Island,  where  they  landed. 
Three  days  passed  before  the  weather  sub 
sided,  and  then  Las  Casas,  in  the  company 
of  his  faithful  companion,  Father  L,adrada, 
and  two  other  friars,  proceeded  by  water  on 
his  journey,  reaching  Ciudad  Real  de 
Chiapa  safely.  The  other  Dominicans 
ended  their^rying  voyage  by  land  during 
the  month  of  February,  1545. 

Ciudad  Real  de  Chiapa  was  the  white 
man's  town,  and  Chiapa  itself  was  an  old 
Indian  pueblo  a  few  miles  away.  The  re 
ception  given  to  the  bishop  was  about  on 
the  same  plan  (which  seems  to  have  been 
preconcerted)  as  that  received  in  Campeche. 
There  was  an  outward  show  of  polite  con 
sideration  and  generosity,  while  an  under 
current  of  opposition  to  the  prelate's  ideas 
and  administration  was  felt  during  the  first 
days  after  his  arrival.  As  no  episcopal 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    453 

palace  had  yet  been  provided,  the  bishop 
was  assigned  the  well  appointed,  but  vacant 
residence  of  an  absent  Spaniard,  nearby 
the  convent  which  had  been  built  for  the 
friars. 

The  real  sentiments'  of  the  Whites  about 
their  new  bishop  must  be  gathered  from 
the  letter  dated  in  Guatemala  the  loth  of 
September,  1543,  which  I  gave  in  a  former 
chapter.  All  the  slave-owners  in  the  In 
dies  were  interested  in  making  his  ad 
ministration  a  failure,  in  order  to  destroy 
his  influence  at  court ;  and  letters  poured 
into  Ciudad  Real  encouraging  and  spurring 
its  residents  to  resist  the  pretensions  of  the 
Protector  of  the  Indians.  One  of  these, 
quoted  by  Remesal,  affords  a  sample  of  the 
others.  "People  say  here  that  the  sins  of 
your  country  must  be  very  grievous  indeed, 
when  God  thought  it  necessary  to  punish 
them  by  sending  you  that  antichrist  (L,as 
Casas)  for  a  bishop. n 

An  attempt  was  made  to  practically 
modify  his  views  on  Indian  slavery,  by 
making  him  a  participant  of  the  fruits 
thereof.  There  was  at  first  lavishness  in 
their  hospitality ;  and  the  bishop  was 
plainly  given  to  understand,  by  deeds,  if 
not  by  words,  that  his  episcopal  see  would 
prove  a  sufficiently  soft  one,  if  he  would 


454    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

but  consent  to  leave  matters  in  statu  quo. 
The  bait  unfortunately  had  proved  too 
tempting  to  many  of  the  American  prelates. 
Even  his  lordship  of  Guatemala,  the 
energetic  and  zealous  Marroquin,  the  here 
tofore  friend  of  I^as  Casas,  who  had  shared 
his  opinions,  had  succumbed  to  its  allure 
ments,  and  was  now  enjoying  the  revenues 
of  a  Repartirniento.  Las  Casas  too  was 
but  a  child  of  Eve,  thought  the  Spaniards 
of  Ciudad  Real,  and  perhaps  he  would  yet 
see  that  his  humanitarian  theories,  which 
in  Spain  he  had  succeeded  in  imposing  on 
the  ruling  powers,  were  Utopians  and  im 
practicable  in  America.  They  were  not 
left  long  undeceived. 

The  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  Chiapa  were 
found  to  be  in  a  deplorable  condition,  as 
might  have  been  expected.  Erected  into  a 
diocese  several  years  before,  Chiapa  had 
never  yet  seen  a  bishop.  A  poorly  built, 
small,  and  unattractive  church  was  called 
the  cathedral,  which  was  served  by  only 
two  clergymen,  the  Dean  of  the  chapter, 
Gil  Quintana,  and  the  Canon  Juan  Perera. 
Besides  the  parish  priest  of  Campeche,  who 
was,  as  far  as  known,  a  worthy  ecclesiastic, 
there  were  only  three  other  secular  priests, 
who  were  young  and  had  no  particular 
charge.  One  of  them  travelled  about, 


Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    455 

from  pueblo  to  pueblo,  baptizing  Indians, 
for  the  revenues  that  the  business  afforded. 
The  second  was  a  partner  in  a  sugar 
plantation,  attending  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  cane,  while  the  third  filled  the  office 
of  a  Calpixque,  the  name  given  by  the 
Indians  to  the  collector  of  the  tributes, 
which  were  paid  by  them  to  the  owners 
of  the  Bncomiendas.  The  bishop  sum 
moned  all  three  of  trrem  to  live  with  him, 
in  order  to  enforce  on  them  ecclesiastical 
discipline,  and  to  employ  them  in  the 
work  of  the  ministry.  They  were  paid, 
out  of  the  bishop's  revenues,  a  small 
salary,  and  sat  at  the  same  table  with 
him.  L,as  Casas,  in  becoming  a  bishop, 
had  not  given  up  the  strict  primitive  rule 
of  his  Order,  and  never  ate  flesh  meat, 
which  however  he  supplied  scantily  to  his 
guests.  His  monastic  habits,  his  strict 
application  to  duty,  and  perhaps  the 
exacting  exercise  of  authority  did  not  suit 
two  of  the  young  men.  One  of  them,  on 
account  of  a  slight  misunderstanding  with 
the  vicar  general,  (a  Spaniard  who  had 
come  from  Spain  with  the  bishop)  left 
the  diocese,  disregarding  Las  Casas'  wishes, 
and  died  shortly  after.  The  second  un 
frocked  himself  and  died  on  the  gallows 
as  a  criminal,  in  Nicaragua.  The  Fathers 


456    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

of  Mercy  were  already  established  in 
Chiapa,  when  the  first  American  priest 
became  its  bishop;  but. the  views  of  most 
of  them  on  the  subject  of  slavery  did  not 
agree  with  those  of  the  prelate,  and  con 
sequently  not  much  use  could  be  made  of 
them  in  the  proper  administration  of  the 
diocese. 

The  bishop  of  Chiapa,  though  coleric, 
impetuous,  and  ver^  plainspoken,  when 
ever  it  was  a  question  of  correcting  abuses, 
or  the  outrages  perpetrated  against  the  In 
dians,  was  as  meek  as  a  lamb,  and  as 
humble  as  a  child  in  the  ordinary  dealings 
with  his  flock.  The  natives  especially  had, 
at  all  times,  free  access  to  his  lordship, 
who  shared  with  them  their  sorrows  and 
their  sufferings.  Wooden  were  the  spoons 
and  forks  on  his  table,  and  the  dishes 
plain  earthenware.  After  mass  and  his 
morning  devotions,  the  hours  of  the  day 
were  given  to  his  clergy  and  to  his  people, 
while  at  night  several  more  were  spent 
in  study  and  in  writing.  Great  was  his 
abiding  trust  in  God,  as  all  his  works 
show,  and  his  habit  of  prayer  was  constant. 
His  never  ending  supplication  was  that 
the  Father  of  mercies  might  enlighten  the 
minds  and  touch  the  hearts  of  the  hardened 
sinners  of  his  diocese,  who  could  not  hope 


Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casa$<    457 

to  obtain  salvation,  while  their  oppression 
of  the  Indians  lasted,  and  their  thirst  for 
illgotten  wealth  endured.  His  life  in 
Chiapa  was  sad  indeed.  A  handful  of  his 
countrymen  held  in  slavery  thousands  of 
the  natives,  whose  shackles  he  was  power 
less  to  break.  Daily  swarms  of  these  un 
fortunates  filled  his  house,  knelt  around 
him,  and  kissing  the  hem  of  his  white 
habit,  their  eyes  swollen  with  weeping, 
detailed  in  touching  and  endearing  words 
the  cruelties  of  their  masters,  protesting 
at  the  same  time  that  they  had  been  en 
slaved  unjustly,  and  in  spite  of  the  laws 
that  the  white  men  themselves  had  made. 
The  Protector  of  the  Indians  would  then 
visit  this,  that,  and  that  other  Spaniard 
to  beg,  to  entreat,  or  to  threaten.  But 
all  in  vain.  The  reader  needs  not  be  told 
of  the  style  of  his  sermons  on  Sundays 
and  feast  days.  They  reminded  the  listener, 
sometime  of  the  persuasive,  winning  ways 
of  a  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  but  more  fre 
quently,  especially  in  his  perorations,  of 
the  eloquence  of  St.  Ambrose  when  threat 
ening  Theodosius  with  eternal  damnation, 
unless  penance  was  done  for  the  slaughter 
of  the  people  of  Thessalonica.  His  words 
fell  on  the  roadside  or  on  rocks. 

Kaster  was   approaching,    and    all    the 


458    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

Spaniards  meant  to  receive  the  Sacraments 
of  Penance  and  Holy  Eucharist;  for,  in 
those  days  of  faith,  not  to  comply  with  this 
precept  of  the  Church  was  to  become  a  social 
outcast,  little  better  than  a  Mahommedan. 
Nevertheless  they  continued  in  open  re 
bellion  against  their  bishop,  and  defied  his 
authority.  They  had  learned  to  know  that 
if  was  useless  to  entice  him  with  gold  or  a 
life  of  ease,  while  their  conduct  had  at  last 
convinced  L,as  Casas,  that  none  but  drastic 
measures  would  avail  to  soften  the  hardness 
of  their  hearts. 

Accordingly  just  before  Passion  Sunday 
the  bishop  withdrew  the  faculties  for  hear 
ing  confessions  from  every  priest  in  the 
city,  secular  and  regular,  except  two.  These 
were  the  Dean  and  the  one  Canon  of  his 
cathedral  chapter.  The  Fathers  of  Mercy 
were  excluded,  because  it  was  known,  that 
most  of  them  were  of  the  opinion  that  the 
Indians  were  servi  a  natura.  The  faculties 
of  the  friars  and  of  the  secular  priests,  who 
had  lately  arrived  from  Spain,  were  also 
suspended  because,  being  unacquainted 
with  the  country  and  the  relations  existing 
between  the  white  and  the  red  men,  they 
were  not  thought  to  be  competent  con 
fessors. 

At  the  same  time  the  bishop  placed  in 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    459 

the  hands  of  the  Dean  and  of  the  Canon  a 
long  list  of  sins,  the  absolution  from  which 
he  reserved  to  himself.  Briefly  it  meant 
that  the  two  authorized  confessors  could 
not  absolve  ist  any  white  man  who  was  in 
possession  of  real  or  legal  slaves ;  2nd  of 
any  owner  of  a  Repartimiento,  unless  he 
was  willing  to  set  all  his  Indians  free,  and 
to  make  restitution  of  all  wealth  or  property 
accumulated  through  their  enforced  labor. 

During  the  first  days  of  passion  week  the 
Canon  and  the  Dean  were  busy  hearing 
confessions.  The  former  simply  and  faith 
fully  complied  with  the  injunction  of  his 
bishop,  but  the  latter,  notwithstanding  his 
solemn  promise  to  do  likewise,  every  time 
he  stumbled  on  one  of  the  reserved  cases, 
sent  the  penitent  to  the  bishop  with  a  note, 
saying:  "The  bearer  has  some  cases  re 
served  by  your  lordship,  although  I  do  not 
find  them  reserved  in  the  jus  canonieum  or 
in  any  of  the  moral  theologians." 

The  Spaniards  were  therefore  left  to 
choose  between  excommunication  (failure 
to  perform  one's  Kaster  duties,  to  use  a 
modern  expression,  was  punished  with 
nothing  less)  and  giving  up  the  bulk  of 
their  accumulated  wealth.  L,ike  the  slave 
owners  of  the  southern  states  of  the 
American  Union  before  and  during  the 


460    Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

war  of  secession,  they  were  convinced  that 
their  sugar  plantations  and  their  mines 
would  become  worthless  without  the  eii- 
.forced  labor  of  the  Indians.  Experience 
taught  that  it  was  a  mistaken  notion, 
but  a  conviction  it  was,  and  the  Guate 
malans  acted  upon  it.  In  either  case,  ex 
communication  or  expropriation  meant 
their  ruin,  and  it  was  decided  to  leave 
not  a  stone  unturned  to  avoid  both. 

First  the  Dean,  and  then  the  Fathers 
of  Mercy,  waited  on  the  bishop  to  see  if 
by  arguments  and  persuasion  they  might 
not  shake  his  resolution  to  carry  matters 
to  extremes.  But  to  no  purpose.  The 
bishop  answered  that  it  was  not  in  his 
power  to  declare,  that  one  portion  of  his 
flock  was  bound  to  work  and  perish  to 
enrich  the  other,  which  was  but  a  small 
minority.  Had  not  the  Protector  of  the 
Indians  studied  for  thirty  years,  had  he 
not  suffered,  spent  a  fortune  and  risked 
his  life,  time  and  again,  to  solve  the 
momentous  problem  of  Indian  slavery? 
And  now  that  the  best  theologians,  the 
ablest  jurists  in  Christendom,  the  univer 
sities  and,  at  last,  the  supreme  power  of 
the  Spanish  nation  had  declared  that  he 
was  right,  and  slavery  wrong,  shall  he 
disgrace  his  old  age,  and  abandon  the 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    461 

American  race  to  oppression  and  ultimate 
extermination? 

The  civil  authorities  had  no  jurisdiction 
over  the  bishop,  but  according  to  a  custom 
that  prevailed  for  centuries  among  the 
Spaniards,  the  Guatemalans  availed  them 
selves  of  what  they  called  the  right  to  re- 
querir,  that  is,  to  summon  the  bishop  in 
the  name  of  ecclesiastical  law,  to  show 
cause  why  he  should  not  grant  permission 
to  confessors  to  absolve  them.  The  re- 
qiierimientb ,  or  summons  were  served  in 
the  following  manner.  An  instrument  was 
drawn  up  in  proper  legal  form,  and  proper 
ly  acknowledged  before,  and  countersigned 
by  a  notary  public.  The  sum  total  of  the 
argument  made  in  it  was  that  Pope  Alexan 
der  VI.  having  granted  the  Indies  to  the 
Spanish  crown,  they,  the  Conquistadores, 
acting  in  the  name  of  the  king,  had  waged 
war  against  the  Indians,  and  that  therefore 
the  prisoners  made  during  said  wars,  were 
their  lawful  property  and  legal  slaves. 

Of  course  the  plea  was  founded  on  a  false 
premise.  But  the  requerimiento,  which 
was  presented  and  read  to  the  bishop  by  a 
deputation  of  the  people,  ended  with  a 
threat,  that,  unless  their  request  was  com 
plied  with,  complaints  would  be  lodged 
against  him  before  the  Metropolitan,  the 


462    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

arclibisliop  of  Mexico,  the  king  and  the 
pope. 

Remesal  has  preserved  us  the  answer 
made  by  L,as  Casas. 

"Oh  ye  blind  men,  how  woefully  has 
satan  deceived  you.  Why  do  you  threaten 
me  with  your  appeals  to  the  archbishop, 
the  king  and  the  pope?  Know  ye,  that, 
were  I  not  compelled  by  the  law  of  God  to 
do  as  I  am  doing,  and  you  to  obey  me,  you 
would  yet  be  bound  by  the  just  laws  of  your 
king,  whose  faithful  vassals  you  pretend 
to  be." 

Drawing  then  forth  the  new  laws,  he 
read  to  them  the  statutes  relating  to  In 
dian  slavery  and  continued.  "Not  you 
of  me,  but  I  have  a  right  to  complain 
to  the  king  of  you,  who  do  not  obey 
his  laws."  The  spokesman  of  the  com 
mittee  answered  that  a  protest  against 
those  laws  had  been  sent  to  the  king, 
and  that  therefore  they  should  be  allowed 
to  remain  in  abeyance  until  he  should 
have  accepted  or  rejected  their  remon 
strances.  The  bishop  retorted:  "Your 
argument  would  hold  good,  were  not  these 
laws  founded  on  the  laws  of  God,  and  were 
it  not  an  act  of  natural  justice  to  set  free 
these  Indians,  who  have  been  tyrannically 
enslaved. '  > 


Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    463 

Nothing  came  of  the  requerimiento,  and 
popular  clamor  succeeded  to  legal  pro 
ceedings.  The  blackest  calumnies  were 
resorted  to,  in  order  to  vilify  the  prelate. 
The  bishop  was  called  a  glutton  and  a  dis 
ciple  of  Boccaccio.  He  was  better  fitted, 
it  was  said,  to  manage  a  tile  or  a  brick 
yard  than  to  govern  a  diocese,  which  meant 
that  he  was  an  unlettered  and  an  ignorant 
man.  It  was  even  whispered  around  that 
he  was  suspected  of  heresy.  The  new  laws, 
as  interpreted  by  him,  were  but  a  pretext 
in  his  hands  to  prevent  the  ministration  of 
the  sacraments,  as  the  reformists  were  then 
doing  in  Germany  and  elsewhere. 

Cartoons  had  not  yet  been  invented,  but 
ditties  caricaturing  the  venerable  prelate 
were  composed  and  taught  to  street  urchins, 
who  sang  them  under  the  windows  of  the 
episcopal  residence.  A  villain  went  so  far 
as  to  discharge  a  blank  cartridge  from  the 
streets  into  the  apartments  of  the  bishop, 
hoping  thus  to  intimidate  him. 

The  Dominican  Fathers  were  the  only 
consolation  of  Las  Casas.  On  Holy  Thurs 
day  one  of  them  preached,  and  his  theme 
was  in  keeping  and  according  to  his  ideas. 
The  only  effect  of  the  sermon  however,  was 
to  draw  on  the  fri?rs  the  hatred  which  the 
people  nursed  against  the  bishop.  Shortly 


464    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

after  Baster  the  governor  of  Ciudad  Real 
wrote  to  Charles  V.  and  gave  him  a  one 
sided  and  calumnious  account  of  the  state 
of  things  in  the  town.  The  letter  has  been 
preserved,  of  which  I'll  give  the  following : 
"From  the  letter  I  wrote  you  from  Coatza- 
coalcos  your  Majesty  knows  already  how 
Fray  Bartolome  de  L,as  Casas,  the  bishop  of 
this  city,  and,  as  he  says,  of  half  of  this 
New  Spain,  has  landed  in  Yucatan  .... 
Of  ten  friars  dispatched  by  him  to  precede 
him,  only  one  was  saved,  and  I  dare  say, 
and  could  almost  swear  to  your  Majesty, 
that  the  citizens  of  this  town  would  have 
preferred  that  the  bishop  had  drowned,  in 
stead  of  the  friars,  even  if  these  had  been 
French  ....*)  The  flames  of  discord 
went  so  high  in  this  city  during  the  Holy 
week  that  it  was  observed  as  if  the  people 
were  not  Christians.  The  people  are  so 
excited  that  I  don't  know  how  to  describe 
it  to  your  Majesty,  and  the  bishop  is  so  rude 
and  so  stubborn  in  his  fixed  ideas,  that  he 
says  that  even  if  His  Majesty  or  His 
Holiness  the  Pope  should  so  direct  and 
command,  he  would  not  desist  from  his 

*)  On  account  of  the  several  wars  between  France 
and  Spain,  and  because  of  the  French  privateers,  or 
corsairs,  who  made  travelling  in  American  waters 
very  dangerous,  Spaniards  had  grown  accustomed  to 
look  upon  Frenchmen  as  little  better  than  Turks. 


Life  oj  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    465 

undertaking,  because  it  concerns  the  spirit 
ual  welfare  of  New  Spain  and  of  the  king 
himself,  on  whom  he  represents  himself  as 
having  such  an  ascendency  that,  as  he  tells 
it  around,  as  if  for  a  pastime,  he  himself 
had  caused  the  change  of  policy  in  the 
council  of  the  Indies,  and  the  enactment  of 
the  recent  laws  effecting  New  Spain  and 
Peru  .  .  .  ." 

The  governor  told  the  truth  as  far  as  the 
disturbances  of  Holy  week  were  concerned. 
Dean  Gil  Quintana  had  caused  them  by  ad 
mitting  to  Holy  Communion  several  slave 
owners,  who  had  sold  and  bought  Indians 
publicly  during  those  very  days.  His  un- 
canonical  conduct  gave  great  scandal,  and 
threatened  to  dethrone  episcopal  authority. 
L,as  Casas  decided  that  a  stop  must  be  put 
to  it,  and  began  by  endeavoring  to  ad 
minister  a  paternal  admonition.  The  Dean 
was  invited  to  dine  with  his  lordship  the 
day  after  Easter,  and  the  bishop  was  noti 
fied  that  the  invitation  was  accepted.  His 
non-appearance,  at  the  time  appointed, 
nettled  the  prelate,  who  sent  him  word  that 
his  presence  was  needed.  The  Dean  pleaded 
an  indisposition  and  did  not  answer  the 
call.  A  second  and  a  third  messenger  was 
sent  with  no  better  effect.  Then  L,as  Casas 
peremptorily  summoned  the  recalcitrant 
30 


466  Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

Dean  to  appear  before  him  under  penalty, 
of  what  ecclesiastical  censure  is  not  known. 
Gil  Quintana  received  the  summons,  dressed 
and  walking  about,  but  folded  the  paper, 
put  it  in  his  pocket  and  disregarded  its 
contents. 

The  Protector  of  the  Indians  (who  con 
fesses  in  more  than  one  passage  of  his  works 
his  being  of  a  choleric  temperament )  with 
out  more  ado,  ordered  his  Alguacil*)  to 
proceed  to  the  Dean's  house,  and  arrest 
him.  The  going  in  and  out  of  messengers 
from  the  bishop's  to  the  priest's  house  had 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  busybodies  of 
the  town,  who  gathered  to  see  what  would 
happen.  The  Dean,  forced  by  the  Alguacil 
to  come  out  of  his  house,  made  frantic 
efforts  to  escape,  and  cried  aloud:  "help 
me,  gentlemen,  help  me,  and  I  will  hear 
the  confessions  of  you  all  and  give  you 
absolution." 

*)  A  kind  of  episcopal  marshal  employed  by 
bishops  to  enforce  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction.  The 
ecclesiastical  tribunals,  recognized  as  they  were  by 
the  civil  powers,  had  their  own  executives  as  our 
civil  courts  have  their  sheriffs,  to  enforce  their 
sentences.  When  however  the  officers  of  an  eccle 
siastical  court  proved  insufficient  to  execute  the 
sentences  of  the  judges,  recourse  was  had  to  the 
secular  arm.  A  little  over  a  century  ago  every  epis 
copal  curia  in  a  Catholic  country  had  its  own  jail, 
in  which  refractory  ecclesiastics  were  confined. 


Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    467 

The  alcalde,  or  the  mayor  of  the  town, 
happened  to  be  in  the  crowd,  and  yelled: 
"aqni  del  rey  /*"  which  had  the  same  effect 
as  if,  in  time  of  siege,  somebody  should 
cry  :  "Treason,  citizens,  treason!" 

In  a  few  minutes  every  Spaniard  was  on 
the  spot  armed  to  his  teeth.  The  Dean 
was  set  free,  while  sentinels  guarded  the 
entrances  to  the  Dominican  convent  to 
prevent  the  friars  from  going  to  the  as 
sistance  of  the  bishop.  Meanwhile  a  mot 
ley  crowd,  headed  by  the  promoters  of 
the  demonstration,  had  penetrated  into 
the  episcopal  residence,  yelling  all  the 
while:  "Aqui  del  rey,  aqui  del  rey!" 
Father  Medenilla,  one  of  the  Dominicans, 
and  nothing  less  than  a  knight  of  Sala 
manca,  who  happened  to  be  in  the  front 
apartments  of  the  house,  endeavored  to 
pacify  the  angry  crowd,  when  the  bishop, 
attracted  by  the  noise,  was  seen  coming 
to  face  the  rioters.  He  was  forced  back 
into  his  own  apartments  by  the  Domini 
cans,  but  meanwhile  the  leading  spirits 
of  the  mob  had  also  gained  access  to  the 
room,  all  speaking  and  vociferating  at  the 
same  time.  It  was  pandemonium.  The 
scoundrel,  who,  some  days  before,  had  shot 
a  blank  cartridge  into  the  house  to  frighten 
him,  went  so  far  as  to  swear  there  and  then 


468    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

that  he  would  yet  kill  him.  Las  Casas 
spoke  not  a  word,  but  when  the  storm  had 
spent  itself,  and  there  was  silence  in  the 
room,  looked  them  fixedly  in  the  face,  and 
then,  with  words  not  of  contempt  but  of 
pity  and  forgiveness,  dismissed  them  from 
his  presence  after  administering  to  them 
a  fatherly  admonition. 

That  night  there  was  more  than  one 
Spanish  Hidalgo  moping  in  his  room, 
and  thoroughly  ashamed  of  himself  for 
having  taken  part  in  the  day's  riotous  pro 
ceedings  against  the  bishop. 

At  a  late  hour  the  people  had  come  to 
their  senses,  and  officers  proffered  to  go  in 
pursuit  of  the  outlawed  Dean,  and  to  re- 
arrest  him. 

But  Las  Casas  preferred  to  let  him  go  in 
peace,  not  however  without  suspending  and 
excommunicating  him. 

Next  day  several  of  the  Dominican 
fathers  visited  the  bishop,  and  begged  him 
to  leave  Ciudad  Real,  for  a  while  at  least, 
because  they  feared  that  the  threats,  made 
against  his  life  the  day  before,  might  be 
carried  out.  "But  Fathers,  where  do  you 
wish  me  to  go?"  answered  the  Protector 
of  the  Indians.  "Where  shall  my  life  be 
out  of  danger  as  long  as  I  continue  to 
advocate  the  liberty  of  these  helpless 


Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    469 

ones?  If  my  own  interests  were  at  stake, 
I  would  gladly  abandon  them,  that  peace 
and  quiet  might  be  re-established ;  but  I 
am  defending  the  cause  of  these  miserable 
Indians,  crushed  and  oppressed  by  un 
just  slavery  and  unbearable  tributes,  which' 
other  members  of  my  flock  are  exacting 
of  them.  Here  I  wish  to  remain,  where 
is  my  church,  which  I  accepted  as  a 
groom  his  bride  ;  I  must  not  abandon  it. 
This  episcopal-  residence  is  the  fortress 
entrusted  to  my  keeping,  and  should  they 
kill  me,  I  wish  to  consecrate  it  with  my 
blood,  that  it  may  stimulate  zeal  in  others 
for  the  house  of  God,  and  be  made  fertile 
and  bear  fruits  of  justice  and  peace,  in 
stead  of  the  injustice,  that  now  stains  and 
disfigures  my  diocese.  This,  Fathers,  is 
my  wish  and  my  irrevocable  deter 
mination.  But  I  shall  not  be  so  fortunate, 
as  to  see  the  citizens  of  this  town  carry 
out  their  threats.  Other  times  I  found 
myself  surrounded  by  greater  perils,  but, 
on  account  of  my  shortcomings,  God 
snatched  from  my  hands  the  crown  of 
martyrdom.  The  riotous  conduct  of  the 
Conquistadores  and  the  venomous  hatred 
they  bear  me,  are  of  long  standing. 
Their  insults  wound  me  no  longer,  neither 
do  I  fear  their  threats.  The  insults  of 


47°    Life  oj  Bartolom£  de  Las  Casas. 

yesterday  were  rnild  and  moderate,  com 
pared  to  the  affronts  I  had  to  bear  at 
their  hands  in  former  days  both  in  Spain 
and  in  these  Indies." 

The  bishop  was  yet  conversing  with 
kis  visitors,  when  four  other  Fathers 
rushed  in  the  room  to  tell  him,  that  the 
man,  who  had  threatened  his  life  the  day 
before,  had  been  stabbed.  L,as  Casas 
arose  and  invited  the  friars  to  go  with 
him  to  the  assistance  of  the  wounded 
criminal.  A  surgeon  was  sent  for  at  once, 
and  while  his  companions  busied  them 
selves  in  stemming  the  blood  that  flowed 
from  the  open  wounds,  Las  Casas  prepared 
with  his  own  hands  the  fillets  used  in 
bandaging  them.  Four  hours  he  remained 
by  the  side  of  the  sick  man,  showering  his 
attentions  upon  him,  as  if  he  had  been  his 
own  brother.  It  was  the  vengeance  of  a 
worthy  bishop.  The  criminal  asked  a 
thousand  pardons,  became  a  good  Christian, 
and  the  lifelong  friend  of  the  Protector  of 
the  Indians. 

The  Spaniards  of  Ciadad  Real  made  the 
life  of  the  Dominicans  unbearable  and  im 
possible.  The  tactics  adopted  against  them 
in  San  Domingo  were  repeated  in  Chiapa, 
and  the  usual  alms  collected  daily  from 
door  to  door  were  no  longer  forthcoming. 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    471 

It  was  decided  to  seek  another  field  for  their 
work,  not  however  without  preaching  a 
farewell  sermon  to  the  Spaniards.  Their 
departure,  the  preacher  told  them,  was 
caused  by  the  hardness  of  their  hearts,  and 
by  their  sins.  It  did  no  good  to  the  slave 
owners,  who,  though  they  considered  the 
friars  their  enemies,  were  angered  at  being 
told  the  truth.  The  neighboring  pueblo 
of  Chiapa  was  visited,  and,  as  both  the 
owner  of  the  Encomienda  and  the  Indians 
themselves,  showed  great  desire  to  see  the 
Fathers  established  in  their  midst,  it  was 
decided  to  build  a  convent  there.  The 
bishop  was  invited  to  bless  the  corner  stone 
of  the  church,  and,  of  course  the  entire 
community  accompanied  him  to  the  ancient 
Indian  village.  But  before  taking  the  road 
one  of  the  Fathers  preached  once  more  in 
Ciudad  Real.  The  Spaniards  were  told 
that,  after  all,  the  bishop's  opinion,  that  it 
was  unjust  to  enslave  the  Indians,  was  not 
so  unusual.  Bishop  Marroquin,  when  a 
simple  parish  priest,  had  held  it.  So  did 
the  renowned  Father  Betanzos,  so  did  the 
Franciscans  very  generally  etc.  Although 
it  was  safer  to  keep  on  the  beaten  road 
when  travelling  through  the  mountains,  it 
was  safer  to  keep  on  the  narrow  path  that 
led  to  heaven.  But  it  was  like  preaching 
to  the  winds. 


472    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas 

Thousands  of  Indians  flocked,  from  many 
miles  around,  to  the  reception  given  by 
them  to  L,as  Casas  in  their  pueblo  of  Chi- 
apa.  They  met  him  a  good  hour's  walk 
from  the  town,  decked  for  the  occasion 
with  rare  and  costly  plumage  and  with 
golden  chains  and  bracelets  of  curious 
workmanship.  They  carried  in  their  hands 
crosses  made  of  feathers  and  flowers.  No 
sooner  had  the  bishop  settled  down  in  the 
house  assigned  to  him,  that  delegation 
after  delegation  came  from  different  vil 
lages  to  beg  that  the  Fathers  be  sent  to 
them  to  teach  them  the  Christian  religion. 
The  heart  of  the  Protector  of  the  Indians 
overflowed  with  joy,  and  turning  to  the 
Dominicans,  he  addressed  them  in  the  fol 
lowing  vein:  "Will  you  now  believe  me? 
Is  not  this  what  I  told  you  in  Salamanca? 
Write  to  your  brothers,  and  tell  them  of 
the  great  need,  that  these  poor  souls  have 
of  their  ministration;  encourage  them  to 
come  here  and  explain  to  them  that,  while 
the  hardships  are  great,  the  harvest  to  be 
gathered  is  greater.  It  is  now  easier  for 
them  to  come,  as  they  will  find  you  here 

ready  to  receive  them. As  what  I 

told  you  in  Castile  has  proved  true,  ex 
perience  has  taught  me  to  hope  in  Our 
that  what  I  have  prophesied  to  you 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    473 

in  Campeche,  the  eve  of  the  Kpiphany, 
namely  that  the  work  we  have  undertaken 
for  God's  sake  among  the  Spaniards,  will 
yet  be  crowned  with  success,  will  also 
prove  true.  After  all  the  faith  inherited 
from  their  ancestors,  the  noble  Spanish 
character,  and  over  every  thing  else,  the 
grace  of  God  is  not  dead  in  them.  It  was 
God's  providence  that  guided  you  here  for 
their  salvation,  and  God's  designs  shall  not 
be  frustrated.  You  preach  the  word  of 
God,  and  Isaias  says  that  God's  words  are 
never  spoken  in. vain. n  But  even  these 
passing  joys  of  the  Protector  of  the  Indians 
were  not  free  from  sorrow.  Not  a  few  In 
dians  had  come  to  tell  their  father  the  cru 
elty  of  their  masters  at  Ciudad  Real,  but 
the  officers  of  the  law  had  barred  their 
way.  Nay  many  of  them  had  been  pun 
ished  for  attempting  to  approach  him. 
These  revelations  were  made  to  him  in 
Chiapa. 

Some  of  the  Dominicans  established 
themselves  permanently  in  Chiapa,  others 
formed  a  community  at  another  pueblo 
called  Cinacatlan,  and  others  in  Capana- 
bastla.  In  a  few  weeks  nearly  all  of  them 
had  been  distributed  by  their  superior, 
Father  Thomas  Casilla,  throughout  the 
diocese  to  attend  to  the  evangelization  of 
the  natives. 


474     Ltfe  °J  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

Las  Casas  liimself  returned  to  Ciudad 
Real  to  make  the  necessary  preparations 
for  another  long  journey.  His  destination 
was  Gracias  a  Dios,  on  the  Atlantic  coast 
of  Honduras,  where  an  Audiencia,  or  court 
of  appeal,  had  lately  been  established  for 
the  convenience  of  the  numerous  settle 
ments  that  had  sprung  up  in  Nicaragua, 
Honduras,  Guatemala  and  Yucatan.  Las 
Casas  had  been,  to  a  great  extent,  instru 
mental  in  having  it  established,  and  some, 
if  not  all  of  its  judges  had  been  appointed 
by  his  recommendation.  .  The  long  and 
perilous  journey  was  undertaken  for  two 
reasons.  The  first  was  to  ask  the  assistance 
of  the  secular  arm  to  enable  him  to  enforce 
ecclesiastical  discipline,  and  put  an  end  to 
the  riotous  proceedings  in  his  episcopal 
city  ;  and  the  second  to  assist  at  the  con 
secration  of  a  new  bishop  for  the  diocese  of 
Nicaragua,  to  which  the  bishop  of  Guate 
mala  had  also  been  invited. 

The  bishop  had  not  been  many  days  in 
Ciudad  Real,  when  a  bitter  disappointment 
almost  destroyed  the  fair  prospects  of  an 
abundant  harvest  of  souls,  that  seemed  to 
be  ripe  in  Chiapa,  and  in  the  other  mis 
sions  established  by  the  Dominicans. 
News  reached  him  that  the  owner  of  the 
Repartimiento  of  Chiapa,  either  at  the  in- 


Life  ofBartolomti  de  Las  Casas.    475 

stigation  of  the  Spaniards  of  Ciudad  Real, 
or  because  he  had  realized  that  the  friars 
would  not  prove  pliable  tools  in  his  hands 
to  his  own  aggrandizement,  had  turned 
their  enemy.  In  fact  he  had  already  gone 
so  far  as  to  represent  to  them,  that  other 
provinces,  especially  Mexico  City  and  its 
surrounding  towns,  would  afford  a  better 
field  for  their  talents  and  abilities.  His 
Indians,  he  urged,  were  naturally  stupid 
and  could  never  be  converted  into  real 
Christians.  Every  obstacle  was  thrown  in 
the  way  of  the  friars  to  obstruct  .their  work 
of  evangelization,  and  evidently  nothing 
would  have  been  more  welcomed  by  the 
Spanish  Hidalgo  than  the  departure  of  the 
Fathers  from  the  pueblo.  As  other  tactics 
did  not  avail  to  rid  himself  of  them,  he  did 
not  hesitate  to  invent  before  both  the  white 
and  the  red  man,  the  blackest  calumnies 
against  them. 

The  sudden  appearance  of  the  white 
man  on  his  flying  monster  (the  horses) 
with  the  lightning  in  his  hand  (fire  arms) 
had  enshrouded  the  Spaniards,  in  the 
minds  of  the  natives,  in  a  supernatural  at 
mosphere  almost  everywhere  in  Mexico 
and  Central  America.  The  Kncomenderos 
(owners  of  Bncomiendas)  did  not  fail  to 
encourage  the  superstitious  dread  that  the 


476    Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

Indians  had  conceived  for  the  new-comers, 
in  order  to  bring  them  into  abject  and  more 
than  servile  subjection  to  their  every  whim. 
On  the  contrary,  one  of  the  first  cares  of 
the  Missioners  was  to  teach  the  Indians  the 
truth,  and  gradually  lead  their  converts  to 
assert  their  manhood.  Hence  complica 
tions  and  misunderstandings,  that  would 
appear  ludicrous  and  amusing,  were  not 
the  motives,  and  causes  that  led  to  them 
cruel  and  despicable.  The  following  from 
Remesal  gives  us  a  hint  of  the  relations 
that  often  existed  in  those  early  days 
between  the  clergy,  whose  mission  was  to 
civilize  and  christianize  the  aborigines, 
and  the  Encomenderos  of  many  a  Reparti- 
miento,  especially  in  remote  and  out  of  the 
way  places,  whose  only  object  in  life  was 
to  enrich  themselves  with  the  labor  of  the 
Indians.  We  shall  learn  why  the  Knco- 
mendero  of  Chiapa  and  the  Dominicans  fell 
out  so  soon. 

One  day  an  unusually  bright  Indian  ad 
dressed  the  Fathers  as  follows  :  "Fathers, 
we  are  loosing  our  wits  under  your  instruc 
tion.  When  you  first  came  here,  our  lord 
told  us  that  he  had  written  a  letter  to  the 
emperor,  his  brother,  asking  that  he  send 
you  here  to  say  Mass  for  us,  and  that  you 
came  here  to  obey  his  orders.  He  has  told 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    477 

us  since  that  you  were  very  poor  people, 
and  because  you  had  nothing  in  your  own 
country,  you  had  come  here  to  be  supported 
by  us.  He  has  commanded  us  not  to  give 
you  the  wherewiths  to  build  a  convent  and 
a  church.  On  the  contrary  you  taught  us 
not  to  call  him  our  lord,  because  there  is 
only  one  L,ord,  the  God  of  Heaven,  whom 
you  preach  to  us.  You  told  us  also  that  he 
is  a  mortal  man  like  ourselves,  that  he  is 
subject  to  the  emperor,  the  king  of  Castile, 
and  that  the  alcaldes  of  Ciudad  Real  can 
punish  him  ;  while  he  tells  us  that  he  is 
next  to  God,  and  that  no  one  else  is  his 
superior.  I  do  not  understand  you ;  you 
speak  ill  of  our  lord,  and  he  speaks  ill  of 
you,  while  at  the  same  time  we  see  you 
consorting  together,  as  if  you  were  friends, 
although  not  one  of  you  dares  tell  us  in  his 
presence  what  you  teach  us  in  his  absence. 
If  you  pride  yourself  in  being  called  truth 
ful  men,  speak  clearly,  because  your  way 
of  doing  has  wrapped  us,  as  it  were,  in  a . 
cloud  of  smoke. " 

Happily  the  Dominicans  persevered  in 
their  work,  and  in  the  course  of  time  suc 
ceeded,  both  in  Chiapa,  which  is  now  the 
southernmost  state  of  the  Republic  of 
Mexico,  and  in  Guatemala,  to  christianize 
the  masses  of  the  aboriginal  race.  As  early 


478    Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

as  tlie  year  1562,  when  many  of  the  com 
panions  of  Las  Casas  were  yet  living,  a 
system  of  feudalism  had  been  established 
with  here  and  there  a  Cacique,  a  Spaniard 
or  a  Spanish  American  as  lord,  to  whom 
moderate  tributes  were  paid,  while  over 
vast  areas,  as  in  the  land  of  war,  the  In 
dians  acknowledged  as  their  lord  the  Span 
ish  king  alone.  The  missioners  had,  by 
this  time,  relaxed  to  some  extent  from 
their  stiff  and  uncompromising  attitude  to 
wards  their  countrymen,  and  these,  from 
the  exemplary  life  of  the  Fathers  and  from 
their  constant  preaching  had  learned  to 
treat  the  natives  as  men.  All  of  which  can 
be  gathered  from  a  letter  of  Las  Casas 
written  about  1562  to  those  same  missioners 
in  answer  to  a  joint  one  of  theirs,  which 
they  had  addressed  to  him  in  Spain. 

It  was  about  the  first  of  June  1 545  when  Las 
Casas  set  out  on  his  journey  to  Gracias  a 
Dios.  Quite  a  number  of  persons  accom 
panied  him ;  three  Dominicans,  one  of  the 
canons  of  the  cathedral,  who  had  come 
with1  him  from  Spain,  Gregorio  de  Pas- 
quera,  Rodrigo  Lopez  and  some  other  lay 
men.  He  could  have  chosen  a  shorter  and 
an  easier  route  to  the  Atlantic  coast,  but 
preferred  to  travel  through  the  mountain 
ous  regions  of  Tuzulutlan,  the  land  of  war, 


Life  of  Bartolo m&  de  Las  Casas.    479 

in  order  to  revisit  the  scenes  of  his  former 
labors  and  the  numerous  children  he  had 
there  begot  in  Christ.  The  Dominican 
Fathers  had,  by  this  time,  located  in 
several  pueblos,  in  each  of  which  could  be 
seen,  towering  over  every  other,  the  house 
of  God.  They  came  a  long  way  to  meet 
their  former  brother,  their  bishop,  and  the 
founder  of  their  flourishing  missions,  to 
embrace  him,  and  to  shed  tears  of  joy  with 
him.  How  touchingly  must  have  each  of 
them  detailed  to  the  venerated  Protector  of 
the  Indians  the  religious  progress  of  his 
own  particular  locality.  Next  came  the 
Caciques  of  the  entire  province.  To  each 
of  them  L,as  Casas  delivered  an  authen 
ticated  copy  of  the  decree,  signed  by 
Charles  V.  himself,  insuring  to  him  for 
ever,  his  freedom,  his  lands,  and  the  non 
interference,  by  white  men,  in  his  home 
affairs.  The  chiefs  thanked  him  for  having 
made  them  Christians  without  the  shedding 
of  blood  or  the  loss  of  their  liberty.  Not  a 
Christian  native  failed  to  visit  the  Protec 
tor  of  the  Indians  on  this  occasion,  and 
each  brought  to  him  some  little  present  of 
the  best  that  the  country  afforded. 

The  mission  assigned  by  divine  pro 
vidence  to  Las  Casas  was  a  strange  one. 
Nearly  all  of  his  long  life's  hours  of  hap- 


480    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

piness  were  spent  with  the  untutored  chil 
dren  of  America,  while  it  fell  to  his  lot  to 
wage  a  war  against  his  own  countrymen, 
that  lasted  for  more  than  fifty  years.  In 
Tuzulutlan,  one  of  his  travelling  com 
panions,  the  canon  of  his  cathedral,  tired 
of  that  life  of  hardships,  abandoned  him 
and  went  to  Guatemala,  where  he  was  re 
ceived  and  sheltered  by  bishop  Marroquin. 
From  the  letter,  which  I  am  about  to 
quote,  it  appears  that  the  two  prelates  of 
Guatemala  and  of  Chiapa  must  have  met 
somewhere  in  Tuzulutlan,  and  very  proba 
bly  the  canon,  after  some  altercation  with 
L,as  Casas,  offered  his  services  to  his  lord 
ship  of  Guatemala,  which  were  accepted. 
Certain  it  is  that  the  friendship  between 
Ivas  Casas  and  Marroquin  ended  with  their 
visit  to  Tuzulutlan  in  1545. 

The  canon,  on  reaching  Guatemala  must 
not  have  been  in  a  very  apostolic  frame  of 
mind,  and  his  falling  out  with  his  former 
bishop  must  have  been  well  known  to  the 
citizens  of  Santiago  de  los  Caballeros. 
These  had  learned  from  the  canon,  and 
probably  also  from  bishop  Marroquin,  that 
I^as  Casas  had  gone  to  Gracias  a  Dios  for 
the  express  purpose  of  bringing  pressure  to 
bear  on  the  Audiencia  to  enforce  at  once 
the  new  laws.  Accordingly  they  decided 


Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas?    481 

to  compel,  by  intimidation,  the  Protector 
of  the  Indians  to  desist  from  his  under 
taking.  An  insulting  letter  was  written, 
in  wrhich  the  Bishop  of  Chiapa  was  called  a 
traitor  to  his  country  and  to  the  Christians. 
He  was  also  told  that  a  body  of  men  were 
ready  in  Guatemala  to  ambush  him  on  his 
way  back  from  Gracias  a  Dios,  to  arrest 
him  and  to  deliver  him  to  Gonzalo  PizaTro 
or  to  his  aid-de-camp  Francisco  de  Carba- 
jal,*)  who  would  do  short  work  with  him. 
The  erstwhile  canon  of  the  cathedral  of 
Ciudad  Real  had  the  weakness  to  sign  that 
letter.  Bishop  Marroquin  was  to  be  present 
at  the  consecration  of  the  bishop  of  Nica 
ragua,  but  after  visiting  Tuzulutlan  re 
turned  to  Guatemala  without  going  to 
Gracias  a  Dios.  The  .following  extract 

*)  The  youngest  of  the  four  Pizarros  was  then  at 
the  head  of  an  army  in  Peru  in  open  rebellion 
against  the  Spanish  crown.  His  aid-de-camp  Fran 
cisco  de  Carbajal  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
figures  in  early  American  history.  Trained  under 
the  renowned  general  Gonzalo  de  Cordova  he  had 
soldiered  in  Italy,  France  and  Spain  for  forty  years. 
In  America  he  became  a  sort  of  free-lance  and 
fought  in  Peru  with  the  leaders  of  several  factions. 
Brave,  fearless,  and  cruel,  he  was  withal  the 
greatest  wit  and  his  lance  the  most  dreaded  in  all 
the  Indies.  He  was  taken  prisoner  with  Pizarro  at 
the  battle  of  Xaquixaguana  the  9th  of  April,  1548, 
and  died  next  day  on  the  scaffold  at  the  age  of  83 
after  a  confession  that  lasted  the  whole  of  an  after 
noon. 

31 


482    Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 


from   a   letter  of  his,    dated   the   lyth  of 
August,  1545,  throws  considerable  light  on 
the  events  of  that  year,  and  on  the  rela 
tions  existing  between  the  bishops  of  Cen 
tral  America  at  that  period. 

"Since  I  wrote  you  my  last  long  letter,  I 
had  occasion  to  visit  the  province  of  Tuzu- 
lutlan  .......  reaching  its  borders  on  the 

vigil  of  St.   Peter  (28th  of  June),  I  met 
there  many  messengers  from  the  Caciques 
and  many  prominent  men  of  that  country, 
who  told  me  that  they  were  very  glad  of 
my  coming.     At  half  a  league  from  the 
pueblo,  the  whole  population,  men,  women 
and  children  turned  out  to  meet  me,  dan 
cing  as  a  sign  of  joy  at  my  coming.     On 
my  arrival  they  presented  me  with  an  ad 
dress,  in  which  many  thanks  were  given 
me  for  the  trouble  I  had  taken  in  coming 
to  them  .....  The  Spaniards  here  are  the 

enemies  of  the  friars  and  often  used  to  say 
to  them  :  Why  don't  you  go  to  Tuzulutlan? 
This  moved  Bartolome  de  L,as  Casas  and 
the  other  Fathers  to  try  and  gain  admission 
to  the  country.  Through  the  intervention 
of  third  parties,  they  succeeded  in  being 
admitted  to  the  presence  of  the  Caciques 
of  these  provinces  and  especially  to  that  of 
Jecudstlan,  which  is  a  pueblo  adjoining 
Tuzulutlan.  By  presents  and  by  promises 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    483 

that  no  other  Spaniard  would  be  admitted, 
the  people  little  by  little  lost  their  fears 
and  admitted  the  friars.  They  listen 
cheerfully  to  the  word  of  God,  and  seem  to 
be  satisfied  as  long  as  nothing  is  asked  of 
them;  what  the  future  will  develop,  God 
only  knows.  To  tell  the  truth,  I  am  con 
vinced  that  all  those  people  will  be  brought 
to  the  knowledge  of  God.  The  friars  de 
serve  much  credit  for  their  good  intentions 
and  their  zeal.  The  province  is  the  crag 
giest  and  most  mountainous  in  these  parts, 
and  so  poor  that  there  is  no  likelihood  of 
the  Spaniards  ever  settling  there.  The  be 
ginning  of  it  is  about  eighty  miles  from 
here,  and  from  thence  to  the  sea  about  one 
hundred  and  thirty.  Only  seven  or  eight 
pueblos,  worth  mentioning,  are  to  be  found 
in  all  that  province.  I  give  you  these  par 
ticulars  because  I  know  that  the  bishop  of 
Chiapa  and  the  friars  will  write  you 
miracles  about  it ;  but  what  I  tell  you  is  the 
truth.  As  I  was  about  to  leave,  Fray  Bar- 
tolome  arrived  there.  L,et  your  Majesty  be 
kind  to  the  friars  and  encourage  them. 
That  country  is  well  adapted  to  them, 
there  being  no  Spaniards  or  any  one  else 
to  worry  them ;  and  there  they  will  be  at 
liberty  to  go  and  come  and  to  rule  as  they 
please.  I  will  visit  them  occasionally  and 


484   Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

give  them  wliat  encouragernent  I  can. 
When  Fray  Bartolome  told  me  that  the 
country  belonged  to  his  diocese,  I  answered 
that  he  was  welcome  to  it.  I  know  that 
he  will  draw  on  his  imagination  and  invent 
tales  about  things  which  neither  he,  or 
your  Majesty,  understand.  His  general 
make  up  is  hypocrisy,  and  in  fact,  as  soon 
as  he  was  given  a  mitre,  his  vanity  propped 
up,  as  if  he  had  never  been  a  friar,  and  as 
if  the  sincerity  of  the  zeal,  he  had  showed 
while  attending  to  certain  important  busi 
ness,  should  not  now  need  be  proved  by 
greater  humility  and  greater  holiness.  As 
my  object  in  writing  was  only  to  inform 
you  about  Tuzulutlan,  I  here  end  my 
letter. " 

Why  did  Marroquin  speak  so  disparag 
ingly  of  his  old  friend  L,as  Casas,  to  whom 
he  had,  only  five  or  six  years  before,  en 
trusted  the  task  of  going  to  Spain  to  recruit 
Dominican  and  Franciscan  friars  for  his 
diocese  of  Guatemala.  The  following 
seems  to  be  the  explanation.  When  Mar 
roquin  met  Las  Casas  in  Tuzulutlan,  no 
doubt  both  prelates  were  on  their  way  to 
Gracias  a  Dios.  In  Tuzulutlan  the  Guate 
malan  bishop  discovered  that  the  main  ob 
ject  of  L,as  Casas'  journey  was  not  the  con 
secration  of  a  new  bishop,  but  to  have  the 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    485 

new  laws  enforced  at  once  by  the  Audien- 
cia.  He  was  besides  invited  to  join  his 
friend  and  the  new  bishop  of  Nicaragua  in 
a  requerimiento  to  the  Andiencia.  These 
things  were  not  to  the  liking  of  his  lord 
ship  of  Guatemala,  who  retraced  his  steps 
to  his  episcopal  city. 

If  we  look  for  a  reason  for  this  conduct, 
we  shall  find  it  in  a  letter  written  jointly 
by  Las  Casas  and  the  bishop  of  Nicaragua 
and  addressed  to  Prince  Philip,  informing 
him  that  '  'the  bishop  of  Guatemala  had  a 
Repartimiento,  and  many  slaves,  and  that 
the  doctrine  preached  by  him  on  the  sub 
ject,  was  not  sound. "  Oh  Marroquin,  oh 
Marroquin,  quantum  mutatus  ab  illo!  The 
conquistadores  had  baited  the  apostle  of 
Guatemala,  and  even  he  had  taken  to  the 
bait. 

It  must  have  been  the  end  of  August  or 
the  beginning  of  September  when  Las 
Casas  arrived  in  Gracias  a  Dios.  Fray  An 
tonio  de  Valdivieso,  the  bishop-elect  of 
Nicaragua,  was  already  there,  but  the 
bishop  of  Honduras  had  not  yet  arrived. 
While  waiting  on  him  in  order  to  proceed 
to  the  ceremony  of  consecration,  the  bishop 
of  Chiapa  was  not  idle. 

He  had  learned,  by  long  experience,  that 
no  important  and  permanent  reforms  were 


486   Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

to  be  obtained  through  the  American  crown 
officers,  unless  they  were  constantly  goaded 
to  action  by  trie  central  government  at 
Madrid.  Therefore,  on  the  3oth  of  Sep 
tember  he  addressed  a  long  letter  to  Prince 
Philip,  regent  of  Spain  during  his  father's 
absence,  petitioning  ist,  that  the  Audien- 
cia  of  Gracias  a  Dios  be  instructed  to  assist 
him  and  his  clergy  to  perform  the  pastoral 
office  and  to  instruct  the  natives,  sd,  that 
a  salary  be  assigned  to  the  secular  clergy 
engaged  in  the  work  of  the  ministry  in  his 
diocese.  3d,  that  sufficient  funds  be  ap 
propriated  to  make  the  necessary  repairs  on 
his  cathedral  church.  4th,  that  he  be 
authorized  to  name  successors  to  his  ex 
communicated  dean,  and  to  the  canon,  who 
had  left  for  Guatemala,  from  among  the 
clergy,  who  were  already  in  the  diocese. 
5th,  that  the  name  of  the  province  known 
as  the  land  of  war  be  changed  to  Vera 
Paz  (true  peace.)  6th,  that  sufficient  altar 
wine  be  furnished  to  the  Fathers  working 
in  the  province  of  Vera  Paz.  All  of  these 
requests  were  granted  in  good  time.  Others 
had  to  be  referred  to  his  majesty  the  em 
peror. 

It  is  interesting  to  know  that  the  name 
Vera  Paz  designating,  in  all  geographical 
maps,  the  northern  province  of  the  present 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    487 

Republic  of  Guatemala,  was  given  to  it  by 
the  first  American  priest.  It  has  now  en 
dured  for  more  than  three  centuries  and  a 
half,  and  is  a  better  monument  than  all  the 
statues  erected,  in  almost  every  city  of 
Spanish  America,  to  perpetuate  the 
memory  of  the  Protector  of  the  Indians. 
The  original  royal  decree  calling  that 
province  Vera  Paz  can  yet  be  consulted  by 
the  historian.  It  is  dated  Madrid  the  i5th 
of  January  1547. 

It  might  have  been  expected  that  Las 
Casas  could  have ,  gotten  what  he  wanted 
from  the  Audiencia,  the  establishment  of 
which  he  had  solicited,  and  obtained, 
practically  selecting  himself  its  judges. 
But,  as  one  of  his  best  biographers  re 
marks,  he  was  no  reader  of  characters,  and, 
in  almost  every  instance,  was  disappointed 
by  the  persons  selected  to  cooperate  with 
him  in  his  humanitarian  works.  In  this 
instance,  his  old  friend  of  Guatemala,  Mal- 
donado,  had  been  appointed  chief  justice  at 
Las  Casas'  request.  Evidently  the  Audi 
encia  had  adopted  a  policy  of  procrastina 
tion  in  considering  the  demands  of  the 
bishop  of  Chiapa,  and  the  prelate  had 
made  himself  obnoxious  in  pressing  them. 

One  day  Las  Casas  on  entering  the  wait 
ing  room  of  the  court,  heard  an  officer  re- 


488    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

mark:  "Put  out  that  fool."  On  another 
occasion  he  was  in  the  court  room  in  the 
company  of  Father  Valdivieso,  and  on  his 
giving  an  answer  which  did  not  suit  the 
chief  justice,  the  latter  ordered  the  mar- 
shall  to  expel  him  by  force,  with  the  re 
mark:  "Estos  cocinerillos  en  sacandolos 
del  convento  no  hay  quien  se  puede  averi- 
guar  con  ellos ."  (As  soon  as  these  little 
pigs  get  out  of  their  convents,  nobody  can 
get  along  with  them.) 

Next  day  Las  Casas  presented  himself 
again  in  court,  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
officers,  and  several  other  persons,  who 
happened  to  be  present,  solemnly  sum 
moned  the  judges,  in  the  name  of  God,  of 
St.  Peter  and  Stl  Paul,  and  of  the  Roman 
Pontiff,  to  relieve  his  Church  and  his  flock 
from  the  tyranny,  to  which  they  were  then 
subject;  to  give  orders  to  the  Spaniards  not 
to  obstruct  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel ; 
and  to  enable  him  to  exercise  freely  his 
jurisdiction.  It  caused  the  chief  justice  to 
lose  his  temper  altogether. 

uYou  are  an  unblushing  coward,"  he 
said,  ua  bad  man,  a  bad  friar,  and  a  bad 
bishop.  You  ought  to  be  punished."  The 
venerable  prelate,  in  spite  of  his  years, 
never  was  at  a  loss  for  a  repartee,  and  an 
swered  with  dignity:  "I  fully  deserve  all 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    489 

that  your  lordship  has  said  of  me,  Senor 
Licenciado  Alonso  Maldonado.' '  He  meant 
to  say,  and  the  judge  understood  him  :  UI 
deserve  to  be  punished  for  having  recom 
mended  the  like  of  you  to  the  supreme 
iudgeship." 

This  episode  in  the  life  of  Las  Casas 
illustrates  the  arrogance  with  which  the 
civil  magistrates  often  dealt  with  even  the 
ecclesiastical  hierarchy,  although  certain 
modern  historians  would  have  us  believe 
that  in  those  days  the  Church  had  usurped 
civil  jurisdiction. 

'  It  is  true,  however,  that  Maldonado, 
after  swallowing  his  anger,  thought  him 
self  excommunicated,  and  excommunica 
tion  then  meant  disability  to  hold  office. 
An  ambiguous  apology  was  therefore  offered 
the  bishop,  a  few  days  after,  and,  on  the 
strength  of  that,  a  priest  was  found  to  ab 
solve  him. 

His  early  training,  years  of  study,  his 
experience  at  the  court  of  Spain  had  made 
of  L,as  Casas  one  of  the  foremost  lawyers 
and  legislators  of  his  time.  As  no  other 
method  seemed  to  avail,  he  at  last  in 
stituted  legal  proceedings  before  the  Audi- 
encia.  On  the  22d  of  October  he  presented 
to  the  court  a  written  document  which  be 
gins  as  follows  :  "May  it  please  your  lord- 


49°    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

ships.  I,  the  bishop  of  Ciudad  Real  de 
Chiapa,  Don  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas,  in 
order  to  comply  with  my  pastoral  duty,  the 
dictates  of  my  conscience,  and  the  sacred 
canons,  which  I  swore  to  obey,  on  the  day 
of  my  consecration,  hereby  ask  and  demand 
of  your  lordships,  the  president  and  judges 
of  this  royal  Audiencia,  sitting  in  this  city 
of  Gracias  a  Dios,  the  following : 

ist.  That,  whereas  my  church  is  op 
pressed  and  my  jurisdiction  impeded,  so 
that  I  cannot  exercise  it  freely,  on  account 
of  the  disobedience  and  rebellion  of  the  or 
dinary  judiciary  o'f  my  episcopal  city,  your 
lordships  give  me  freedom,  and  the  means 
to  exercise  said  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction, 
....  as  you  are  by  law  bound  to  do." 

It  would  take  too  much  space  to  give  tne 
whole  document  in  full,  and  the  substance 
only  follows. 

The  2d  asks  the  assistance  of  the  secular 
arm  to  punish  ecclesiastical  and  secular 
lawbreakers. 

3d.  Relief  for  the  Indians  of  his  diocese 
from  enforced  labor,  excessive  tributes,  etc. 

4th.  Ecclesiastical  tribunals  must  be 
declared  competent  to  decide  litigations  in 
matters  pertaining  to  the  Indians. 

5th.  The  Spaniards  must  be  forbidden 
and  prevented  from  establishing  Encomien- 
das  in  Yucatan,  as  per  the  new  laws. 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    491 

6th.  The  Indians,  now  free  vassals  of 
the  crown,  must  be  protected. 

7th.  Substantially  that  the  new  laws 
must  be  declared  in  force  at  once. 

Four  days  after,  that  is,  on  the  26th  of 
October,  1545,  the  Audiencia  took  action, 
and  formally  answered  the  bishop's  sum 
mons  or  Requerimiento.  Six  of  his  re 
quests  were  apparently  granted,  that  is, 
promises  were  made  to  comply  with  them. 
But  the  last  was  referred  to  his  Majesty  the 
king. 

The  answer,  or  sentence  ended  as  fol 
lows:  "In  this  Audiencia  answer  was  al 
ways  made  to  the  bishop  of  Chiapa  and  to 
the  other  bishops,  and  their  requests  have 
always  been  complied  with,  if  not  incon 
sistent  with  good  government,  with  a  view 
especially  to  insure  good  treatment,  preser 
vation  and  instruction  of  the  natives.  The 
liberty  of  the  Church  has  in  no  manner 
been  interfered  with,  or  its  jurisdiction  ob 
structed,  whereas  the  bishop  of  Chiapa  has 
attempted  to  usurp  that  of  his  Majesty,  the 
emperor,  as  appears  from  his  pretensions 
before  this  Audiencia,  of  which,  and  of  his 
want  of  respect  to  this  court,  his  Majesty 
shall  be  informed,  in  order  that  he  may  be 
punished,  etc." 

One  of  the  practical  effects  of  the  court's 


492    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

decision  was  the  appointment  of  one  of  its 
own  judges,  Juan  Rogel,  to  go  to  Ciudad 
Real  and  see  that  the  tribunal's  mandates 
were  carried  out. 

But  Las  Casas  expected  no  substantial 
reform  from  the  Audiencia,  and  even  before 
the  promulgation  of  the  latter's  decree,  that 
is,  on  the  25th  of  October,  he  had  written 
another  long  letter  to  Prince  Philip,  to 
which  bishop-elect,  Valdivieso,  also  affixed 
his  signature.  The  two  prelates  informed 
the  regent  that  the  Church  in  their  dioceses 
was  oppressed,  and  that  the  condition  of 
the  Indians  was  becoming  worse,  because 
the  new  laws  were  not  enforced.  Mal- 
donado,  they  said,  together  with  his  rela 
tives,  had  sixty  thousand  Indians  in  his 
possession.  He  connived,  and  even  en 
couraged  the  thefts  of  the  royal  officers, 
while  the  unscrupulous  Audiencia  did  little 
or  nothing  to  prevent  their  crimes. 
Scarcely  anybody,  except  the  bishops  and 
the  friars,  who  were  therefore  persecuted, 
were  faithful  servants  of  the  king.  Unless 
a  remedy  be  found,  the  bishops  protested, 
they  would  be  compelled  to  abandon  their 
dioceses.  The  Indians  must  be  given  their 
liberty,  by  obliging  the  Spaniards  to  ob 
serve  the  new  laws.  All  bishops  must  be 
exhorted  to  exercise  their  zeal  in  procuring 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    493 

the  enforcement  of  the  same,  and  in  pro 
tecting  the  Indians.  At  the  same  time  no 
obstacle  should  be  thrown  in  their  way,  in 
the  exercise  of  their  jurisdiction,  while  the 
privileges  of  their  respective  churches  must 
be  preserved  intact.  The  division  of  the 
present  diocese  of  Chiapa  was  recom 
mended.  This  should  not  extend  further 
than  the  province  of  Vera  Paz,  while  a  new 
one  should  be  erected  in  Yucatan,  and  an 
other  in  Soconusco.  Judge  Herrera  is  re 
presented  as  worthy  of  the  office,  of  which 
he  was  the  incumbent,  while  one  L,icen- 
ciado  Diego  de  Pineda,  heretofore  pro 
secuting  attorney  in  the  Audiencia  of 
Panama,  is  described  as  a  just  and  virtuous 
man,  and  recommended  for  promotion.  In 
Mexico,  Guatemala,  Nicaragua  and  Yuca 
tan,  there  were  rich  and  influential  men  of 
a  turbulent  character,  who  should  be  ex 
pelled  from  those  provinces. 

We  know  already  that  the  new  laws  had 
caused  bloodshed  and  rebellion  in  Peru, 
but  we  learn,  from  Las  Casas'  and  Valdivi- 
eso's  letter,  that  the  Spaniards  of  Mexico 
and  Central  America  were,  in  secret,  ready 
to  rise  and  follow  the  standard  of  Gonzalo 
Pizarro,  if  a  serious  attempt  was  made  to 
enforce  the  new  laws  in  all  their  rigor. 

Charles   V.    and    Philip   II.    have   been 


494    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

blamed  for  partially  repealing  trie  new 
laws,  and  for  yielding  to  the  American 
rebels.  Had  they  not  done  so,  American 
independence  would  probably  have  been 
achieved  three  and  a  half  centuries  sooner, 
but  the  natives  would  have  certainly  suc 
cumbed  to  the  avarice  and  bloodthirstiness 
of  the  Conquist adores.  L,as  Casas,  through 
out  his  long  life,  followed  but  one  prin 
ciple.  Euat  coelum,  thought  he,  and  his 
school,  but  let  justice  Me  et  nunc  be  done 
to  the  Indians. 

The  court  of  Spain  on  the  contrary  was 
guided  by  practical  statesmanship ;.  it 
yielded,  when  it  could  not  rule,  it  governed, 
whenever  government  did  not  imply  the 
destruction  of  both  the  white  and  the  red 
man.  This  explains  how  the  Protector  of 
the  Indians  enjoyed,  for  full  fifty  years,  the 
favor  of  Ferdinand  and  of  Isabella,  of 
the  great  Ximenes,  of  Pope  Adrian,  of 
Charles  V.,  and  of  Philip  II.,  while  his 
efforts  in  behalf  of  the  aboriginal  Americans 
apparently  never  were  backed  by  sufficient 
energy  to  insure  a  full  measure  of  success. 
The  Spanish  government  availed  itself  of 
Las  Casas'  purity  of  life,  of  his  influence, 
of  his  learning,  and  of  his  prodigious  energy 
in  consolidating  its  western  empire,  and  in 
checking  the  greed  and  the  cruelty  of  the 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    495 

Conquistadores,and  thus  prevent,  at  least, 
the  extinction  of  the  inferior  race.  But  it 
could  not  always  follow  in  practice  the  im 
petuous  Clerigo,  the  choleric  friar,  and  the 
thundering  bishop. 

The  Audiencia  also  wrote  to  the  regent, 
giving  in  their  own  way  their  side  of  the 
question,  and  representing  Las  Casas  in 
so  unfairly  a  light,  that  Judge  Herrera 
declined  to  sign  the  letter.  He  wrote 
individually  to  the  emperor  giving  his 
reasons  for  so  doing,  as  follows.  "I  did 
not  sign  the  letter  which  this  Audiencia 
wrote  you,  because  it  appeared  to  me  too 
violent  against  the  bishops  of  Chiapa  and 
Nicaragua,  and  against  one  of  the  Fathers, 
Fray  Vicente.  The  bishop  of  Chiapa 
appears  to  me  very  bold.  Their  offense 
consisted  of  certain  writings,  which  have 
been  sent  to  you  by  the  Audiencia.  I 
think  that  their  intentions  were  good, 
although  their  zeal  was  intemperate.  I 
know  that  the  natives  are  very  much  ill- 
treated.  Your  Majesty  call  them  free ; 
would  to  God,  that  they  were  treated  as 
slaves  are  ;  for  then  they  would  not  be  used 
as  carriers,  they  would  be  nursed  in  sick 
ness,  and  fed  when  hungry.''  Herrera's 
letter  is  dated  the  24th  of  December,  1545. 

Chief    justice    Maldonado   also   thought 


496    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

proper  to  write  a  private  letter,  in  which 
he  says:  "Your  Majesty  will  see  from  the 
letter  of  the  Audiencia,  how  the  bishop  of 
Chiapa  has  been  acting.  Ever  since  he 
came  back  from  Spain  a  bishop,  he  has 
been  so  arrogant  (tiene  tanta  soberbia) 
that  nobody  can  get  along  with  him.  We 
think  here,  that  a  convent  in  Castile  would 
suit  him  better  than  a  mitre  here.  It  would 
be  well  to  make  him  explain  to  the  council 
of  the  Indies,  how  the  Indians  are  subject 
to  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction.  Because  we 
declined  to  place  them  under  that  juris 
diction,  as  he  had  requested  us  to  do,  he 
excommunicated  the  Audiencia.  It  is  ad 
visable  that  your  Majesty  erect  Yucatan  into 
a  diocese.  If  Father  Toribio  Motolinia  of 
the  Order  of  St.  Francis,  one  of  the  first, 
who  came  to  Mexico,  would  accept  that 
mitre,  he  would  be  well  worthy  of  it,  as  he 
is  in  every  way  a  very  virtuous  and  eloquent 
man.  I  think  that  he  would  fill  the  office 
well."*) 

*)  Toribio  Motolinia  acquired  a  very  unenviable 
reputation  ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century,  when  students  began  to  be  interested  in 
early  American  history.  His  real  name  was 
Toribio  de  Benavente.  But  the  Mexicans  used  the 
word  "Motolinia"  (poor)  to  distinguish  the  Fran 
ciscans  from  the  other  Spaniards,  who,  they  thought, 
were  rich.  Motolinia  had  come  to  Mexico  shortly 
after  the  conquest  by  Cortez,  and  because  Motolinia 


Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    497 

The  bishop  of  Honduras  had  at  last 
arrived  in  Gracias-  a  Dios,  and  the  conse 
cration  of  bishop-elect  Valdivieso  took 

was  the  first  word  he  had  learned  of  the  Aztec 
language,  he  called  himself  Father  Toribio  Moto 
linia^  i.  e.  Toribio  the  poor.  Though  zealous  almost 
to  fanaticism  in  the  conversion  of  the  Indians,  he 
always  took  good  care  to  remain  on  the  side  of  the 
Conquistadores,and,  when  in  1553,  printed  copies  of 
I/as  Casas'  pamphlet  "Brevisima  Relation  de  La 
Destruction  De  Las  Indias"  began  to  find  their  way 
among  the  Spaniards  of  New  Spain,  he  wrote  a 
memorial  to  Charles  V.,  in  which  he  painted  the 
bishop  of  Chiapa  in  scarcely  brighter  colors  than 
those,  with  which  he  was  want  to  describe  the  devil 
to  his  Indian  converts.  The  memorial  can  be  seen 
in  an  appendix  to  Quintana's  biography  of  Las 
Casas.  This  author  sizes  Toribio  Motolinia  as  fol 
lows:  "This  friar  went  to  Mexico  with  the  other 
missionaries  of  his  Order  at  the  request  of  Cortez, 
and  reached  New  Spain  shortly  after  the  fall  of  the 
Aztec  capital.  He  was  easily  distinguishable  among 
his  brothers  by  his  threadbare  habit,  his  almost  con 
tinuous  preaching,  by  his  austerities,  as  well  as  by 
his  talents.  He  acquired  quite  a  store  of  infor 
mation  concerning  the  prehistoric  times  of  Mexico, 
and  wrote  several  pamphlets  on  the  subject,  which 
are  quoted  by  Herrera  and  other  historians.  The 
most  pronounced  trait  of  his  character  however,  was 
his  charity  to  the  Indians.  All  that  he  possessed 
was  theirs,  and  if  any  of  them  appealed  to  him  in 
hunger,  he  divided  with  him  the  alms  which  were 
intended  for  himself.  This  is  the  picture  which 
Bernal  Diaz  makes  of  him,  and  it  is  strange  that 
between  the  two  opinions  which  divided  the  theo 
logians  and  jurists  of  his  times,  he  should  have 
embraced  the  one  least  favorable  to  the  Indians. 

The  reader  understands  now,   why    judge    Mal- 
donado  thought  friar  Toribio  Motolinia  so  well  fitted 
to  wear  an  American  mitre. 
32 


498    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

place.  By  that  time  letters  had  arrived 
from  Ciudad  Real,  in  which  Las  Casas 
was  informed  by  his  vicar  general,  Canon 
Perera,  that  a  committee,  empowered  by 
the  citizens  to  act  in  their  name,  had  pre 
sented  themselves  at  the  episcopal  residence 
to  requerir  or  summon  the  bishop,  or,  in 
his  absence,  his  vicar  general  to  withdraw 
the  reservation  of  the  casus  conscientiae 
touching  on  Indian  slavery  and  restitution. 
Their  pretensions  were  again  founded  on 
the  bull  of  Pope  Alexander  VI.  They 
asked  for  an  answer  in  writing.  The 
prudent  vicar  general  promised  to  give  it 
within  thirty  days,  and  declared  to  them 
that  he  was  ready  to  absolve  them  all, 
if  they  consented  to  set  their  slaves  free 
and  to  make  restitution  of  their  illgotten 
wealth.  The  citizens  allowed  the  thirty 
days  to  lapse  without  calling  for  the 
promised  answer,  because  they  thought 
they  had  struck  on  a  better  plan  to  ob 
tain  their  object.  This  consisted  of  an 
offer  to  Pererav  to  put  him  in  possession 
of  the  church,  as  its  parish  priest,  with 
a  fat  salary  and  other  inducements,  if  he 
would  accept  it,  and  relinquish  at  the  same 
time  the  office  of  vicar  general.  Happily 
Perera  proved  loyal  to  his  bishop  and 
spurned  the  bribe. 


Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas.   499 

The  gravity  of  the  situation  in  the  epis 
copal  city  decided  the  sending  of  commis 
sioner  Rogel  to  Ciudad  Real,  and  at  once 
Las  Casas  left  Gracias  a  Dios  in  time  to  reach 
home  for  the  celebration  of  the  Christmas 
festivities.  But  a  letter  had  preceded  him 
to  Ciudad  Real  from  some  interested 
party,  saying:  "The  bishop  has  left  for 
Chiapa  to  encompass  the  ruin  of  your  poor 
city.  With  him  goes  one  of  the  judges  to 
re-assess  the  tributes  to  be  paid  by  the  In 
dians.  It  is  a  mystery  to  us  here,  how 
you  do  not  put  an  end  to  so  many  evils. n 
The  letter  was  addressed  to  the  town 
council.  The  city  fathers  thereupon  rang 
the  tocsin,  and  called  the  citizens  to  a 
mass-meeting,  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
assembled  multitude  the  secretary  was 
directed  to  read  a  declaration  to  the  effect 
that  the  bishop  had  taken  possession  of 
his  see  without  notifying  in  person,  as  he 
was  by  law  bound  to  do,  the  Cabildo, 
and  without  exhibiting  the  papal  bulls 
and  the  royal  decrees ;  and  that  he  had 
notwithstanding  reserved  to  himself  the 
absolution  of  cases,  on  the  subject  of 
which  an  appeal  was  pending  before  the 
emperor.  It  was  therefore  resolved,  that, 
whereas  the  threatened  reduction  of 
tributes  would  impoverish  the  citizens, 


500    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

and  cause  an  uprising  among  the  Indians, 
the  bishop  be  notified  to  attempt  no  in 
novation,  and  to  proceed  like  the  other 
bishop  of  New  Spain,  i.  e.  wait  until 
the  procurators  appointed  to  lay  the  matter 
before  the  emperor,  whose  decision  they 
were  ready  to  obey,  should  return  from 
Spain.  It  was  also  resolved  that,  should 
any  disorder  arise  from  the  bishop's  non- 
compliance  with  the  foregoing  demands, 
he  alone,  not  they,  be  held  responsible. 
A  third  resolution  was  also  carried  to  the 
effect,  that,  unless  the  bishop  acceded  to 
their  demands,  he  would  be  deprived  of 
his  temporalities.  And  there  and  then  the 
Cabildo  passed  an  ordinance  forbidding 
citizens  from  paying  tithes  under  penalty 
of  a  fine  of  one  hundred  castellanos. 

One  of  the  Dominicans  residing  in  Cina- 
catlan  heard  of  the  doings  of  the  mass 
meeting,  and  fearing  that  the  raving  popu 
lace  might  take  possession  of  the  bishpp's 
library  and  manuscripts,  or  destroy  them, 
sent  a  lay  brother  and  a  layman  to  place 
them  beyond  their  reach.  The  two  gentle 
men  went  by  night,  and,  although  dis 
covered,  succeeded,  after  a  scrimmage  with 
a  couple  of  watchmen,  to  fulfil  their  Mis 
sion.  By  this  time  Las  Casas  had  reached 
Copanabastla,  a  few  leagues  farther  from 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    501 

Citidad  Real  than  Cinacatlan.  While  rest 
ing  for  a  day,  he  thought  it  advisable  to 
send  ahead  a  reliable  gentleman  of  his  suite 
to  quietly  investigate  the  state  of  the 
popular  mind.  The  messenger,  or  detective, 
had  not  been  an  hour  in  town,  in  the  house 
of  a  confidential  friend,  when  his  presence 
was  discovered,  and  he  owed  it  to  the  swift 
ness  of  his  lower  limbs,  that  he  succeeded 
in  getting  away  by  a  circuitous  route,  that 
landed  him  in  the  convent  of  Cinacatlan. 
Here  the  friars  wrote  L,as  Casas  a  letter,  en 
closing  a  copy  of  the  resolutions  passed  by 
the  angry  people  of  his  episcopal  city. 

These,  having  been  informed  by  the  sud 
den  appearance  and  subsequent  flight  of  the 
bishop's  messenger,  that  his  lordship  was 
approaching,  resolved  anew  not  to  allow 
him  to  again  take  possession  of  his  cathe 
dral,  without  a  pledge,  that  the  reservation 
of  the  casus  conscientiae  would  be  with 
drawn.  Indian  sentinels  were  placed  on 
all  the  roads  leading  into  town  to  watch 
him  and  to  give  the  alarm  as  soon  as  he 
should  appear. 

Las  Casas  on  his  side,  while  resting  at 
Copanabastla,  had  instructed  his  Indian 
carriers  to  precede  him  with  his  baggage  to 
the  city.  But  on  receipt  of  the  letter  from 
the  friars  of  Cinacatlan,  the  carriers  were 


502    Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

recalled,  not  however  before  they  had 
reached  the  sentinels  guarding  the  ap 
proaches  to  the  town.  When  it  was 
learned  in  Ciudad  Real  that  the  bishop  had 
recalled  his  Indian  carriers,  the  citizens 
concluded  that  he  must  have  abandoned 
the  idea  of  forcing  matters,  and  that  he 
would  either  keep  out  of  town,  or  give  the 
desired  pledges,  and  on  the  strength  of  that 
conviction  the  mob  gave  vent  to  their  feel 
ings  by  wild  rejoicings,  as  if  an  attack  from 
an  enemy  had  been  repelled. 

Meanwhile  Las  Casas  was  in  consultation 
with  the  Dominicans  of  Copanabastla,  as  to 
what  should  best  be  done  in  the  premises. 
Opinions  varied ;  but  he  reasoned  thus : 
"If  I  go  not  to  Ciudad  Real,  I'll  become  an 
exile  from  my  Church,  and,  inasmuch  as  it 
would  be  myself  who  would  remain  away 
from  it  of  my  own  free  will,  it  could  be 
said  with  sufficient  reason:  'the  bad  man 
fleeth  while  nobody  pursueth  him.'  And 
after  all,  how  do  we  know  that  they  want' 
to  kill  me,  and  that  the  sentinels  are  there 
for  that  purpose?  That  the  good  Fathers 
of  Cinacatlan  wrote  me  the  truth,  I  have 
no  doubt,  but  there  are  also  the  words  of 
our  Lord  himself,  which  he  spoke  to  his 
disciples,  when  they  advised  him  not  to 
return  to  Judea,  where  the  people  had  at- 


Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    503 

tempted  to  kill  him  the  day  before ;  'there 
are  twelve  hours  in  a  day,  and  in  every 
hour,  in  every  moment,  and  in  every  instant 
men  may  change  their  minds.'  Surely 
the  people  of  Ciudad  Real  are  not  demons 
to  be  so  confirmed  in  sin.  Is  it  possible 
that  the  mercy  of  God  will  permit  them  to 
commit  so  horrible  a  crime  as  to  murder 
me?  If  I  go  not  to  my  church,  what 
reasons  shall  I  have  for  complaining  to  the 
pope  and  to  the  emperor?  Am  I  sure  that 
I  shall  not  be  able  to  ward  off  their  anger, 
and  that  my  first  word  shall  be  stifled  by  a 
dagger's  thrust  through  my  heart?  Yes, 
my  good  Fathers,  trusting  in  the  mercy  of 
God  and  your  fervent  prayers,  I  have  re 
solved  to  proceed  on  my  journey,  as  no 
other  alternative  is  left  me  without  com 
promising  my  duty." 

Amidst  the  tears  of  the  friars  the  fearless 
prelate  set  out  at  sunset,  and  late  at  night 
surprised  the  sentinels,  who  had  fallen 
asleep.  "Are  you  ready,"  he  said  to  them 
in  their  native  tongue,  "to  betray  your 
Father?"  And  the  Indians  fell  on  their 
knees  to  beg  his  pardon. 

Las  Casas  feared  to  compromise  those 
innocent  tools  of  the  tyranny  of  the  Span 
iards,  who  would  have  wreaked  on  them 
their  vengeance,  had  the  sentinels  allowed 


504    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

him  to  enter  the  city  unheralded.  To  save 
them  from  punishment,  Father  Vicente 
Ferrer,  one  of  his  travelling  companions, 
and  a  stalwart  negro  *  )  servant,  were  ordered 
to  hold  fast  the  two  diminutive  Guate 
malans,  while  he  himself  tied  their  hands 
on  their  backs.  With  his  willing  prisoners 
walking  in  front  of  him,  Las  Casas  made 
straight  for  the  cathedral,  and  on  reaching  it 
early  in  the  morning,  aroused  the  sacristan 
and  notified  the  Cabildo  of  his  presence, 
asking  them  to  come  to  the  church,  where 
he  was  waiting  for  them. 

Had  a  beleaguered  city  fallen  suddenly 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  it  could  have 
created  no  greater  commotion,  than  the  un 
expected  appearance  of  Las  Casas  did  that 
early  morning  in  Ciudad  Real.  The  alder 
men  met  to  deliberate  on  what  should  be 
done  next,  and  concluded  to  answer  the 
bishop's  call.  Entering  the  church,  they 
took  seats,  as  if  expecting  to  hear  a  sermon, 
and,  when  the  venerable  prelate  issued 
forth  from  the  sacristy,  not  one  of  them 
rose  from  his  seat,  or  exhibited  the  least 


*)  The  negro  was  of  gigantic  stature,  and  in  jest, 
I/as  Casas  had.  dubbed  him  Juanito  (little  John). 
He  traversed  the  continent  with  the  bishop  three 
times.  Whenever  they  came  to  a  swollen  stream, 
Juanito's  duty  was  to  cross  the  prelate  on  his 
shoulders. 


Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    505 

sign  of  respect  by  word  or  action.  On  the 
contrary  the  secretary,  regardless  of  the 
sacredness  of  the  place,  proceeded  at  once 
to  read  aloud  the  resolutions  adopted  at  the 
mass  meeting,  suppressing  however  all 
threats  of  an  appeal  to  the  archbishop,  the 
pope,  or  the  king,  and  all  allusions  to  the 
non-payment  of  temporalities. 

L,as  Casas  answered  them  as  a  father 
would  his  children.  Meekly  he  protested 
his  readiness  to  make  any  sacrifice,  even  to 
the  shedding  of  his  blood,  in  their  behalf, 
assuring  them  that  absolutely  nothing  would 
be  done  injurious  to  their  temporal  welfare, 
unless  it  was  found  necessary  to  prevent 
sins  against  God,  or  their  neighbors.  They 
should  not  be  guided  by  sudden  impulses, 
originating  in  anger,  but  view  things  calm 
ly  in  the  light  of  reason  and  faith.  The 
Protector  of  the  Indians  possessed  the 
eloquence  of  persuasion,  and  could  reach 
the  hearts  of  an  audience  as  well  as  he  was 
wont  to  convince  the  intellects.  The  ad 
dress  seemed  to  produce  the  desired  effect, 
when  an  impertinent  fellow,  without  rising 
from  his  seat,  or  uncovering  his  head,  said  : 
"You  ought  to  be  proud  of  having  among 
your  flock  as  distinguished  gentlemen  as 
these,  who  are  now  listening  to  you.  Your 
not  treating  us  with  the  consideration  due 


506    Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

to  our  rank  has  been  keenly  felt.  Why  did 
you  not  call  on  us,  if  you  had  any  business 
with  us?" 

The  bishop,  assuming  an  attitude  of 
gravity  in  keeping  with  the  dignity  of  his 
office,  answered  calmly:  "Sir,  and  all  of 
you  here  present,  know  ye,  that,  if  I  shall 
have  to  transact  any  temporal  affairs  with 
you,  I  will  call  at  your  houses  ;  but,  if  I 
shall  have  to  speak  to  you  about  matters 
concerning  the  service  of  God,  or  your 
souls,  I  will  send  for  you,  and  you  shall 
have  to  come  to  me,  if  you  are  Christians." 

The  white  haired  prelate  had  risen  and 
was  walking  into  the  sacristy,  when  the 
secretary  respectfully  approached  him  and 
handed  him  a  petition  of  the  people, 
which,  he  said,  needed  not  to  be  read,  as 
the  substance  of  it  all  was  only  that  the 
citizens  be  treated  as  Christians,  and  that 
confessors  be  appointed  to  absolve  them. 
"Very  well,"  answered  the  bishop;  "I 
hereby  appoint  Canon  Perera  and  all  the 
Dominican  fathers  in  this  diocese  that  shall 
be  recommended  by  their  prior.  y ' 

"We  do  not  want  them,"  answered  more 
than  one  man,  "because  they  share  your 
opinions  ;  give  us  some  who  will  not  strip 
us  of  everything  we  have." 

"Very   well,   I   appoint   the   Guatemala 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    507 

priest,  who  resides  in  this  diocese,  and  one 
of  the  Fathers  of  Mercy. n 

On  hearing  which,  Father  Vicente  Ferrer, 
who  stood  by  his  side,  pulled  the  bishop's 
cassock,  and  said  loud  enough  to  be  heard  : 
uDo  no  such  thing,  bishop,  even  if  they 
should  kill  you."  But  Las  Casas  knew 
that  the  two  ecclesiastics  he  had  in  mind 
were  both  learned  and  zealous,  and  that 
they  thought  as  he  did  on  the  subject  of 
Indian  slavery.  Father  Ferrer  would  have 
received  rounds  of  abuses,  if  nothing  worse, 
for  his  trouble,  had  not  the  Fathers  of 
Mercy  entered  the  church,  who,  on  hearing 
of  the  bishop's  arrival,  had  come  to  invite 
him  to  their  convent. 

Las  Casas,  who  was  then  seventy-one 
years  old,  had  walked  not  less  than  twenty 
miles  the  night  before,  and  the  excitement 
of  the  morning  had  so  worked  on  his  nerves 
that  on  arriving  at  the  convent,  he  feared 
a  collapse.  Retiring  at  once  to  one  of  the 
cells,  he  called  for  a  glass  of  wine  and  some 
bread,  with  the  intention  of  going  to  sleep. 
The  lay  brother  had  not  yet  come  with  the 
refreshments,  when  a  deafening  noise  was 
heard  in  the  convent  yard  below.  Another 
riot  seemed  to  be  imminent.  In  fact  in  a 
few  minutes  the  house  was  filled  with 
armed  men,  and  the  bishop's  heart  failed 


508    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

him  for  a  moment,  at  the  sight  of  swords, 
stilettos,  and  daggers,  in  the  hands  of  the 
ruffians,  who  surrounded  him.  In  the 
turmoil  the  cause  of  the  tumult  could  not 
readily  be  ascertained  by  the  friars.  But, 
by  the  time  that  L,as  Casas  had  learned  that 
the  people's  anger  had  been  aroused  by  the 
tying  up  of  their  sentinels,  he  had  regained 
full  self  possession,  and  composedly  ad 
dressed  the  crowd  :  "Gentlemen,  blame  no 
one  else  but  myself,  for  I  it  was,  who  sur 
prised  them  and  tied  them  up  with  my  own 
hands,  knowing,  as  I  did,  that  otherwise 
they  would  be  punished  for  not  giving 
warning  of  my  coming  on  account  of  the 
love  they  bear  me,  whom  they  consider 
their  benefactor." 

"So  goes  the  world, "  yelled  one  of  the 
crowd,  "the  savior  of  the  Indians  ties  up 
the  Indians,  and  then  writes  memorials  to 
Spain  against  us,  as  if  it  was  we,  who  ill- 
treat  them,  while  he  manacles  them  and 
forces  them  to  walk  in  front  of  him  three 
leagues  at  night. " 

Another  scoundrel  addressed  to  the  bishop 
so  villainous  an  insult,  that  historians,  says 
Quintana,  refused  to  put  it  on  record.  Las 
Casas?  answer  to  it  was  :  "I  prefer  not  to 
answer  you,  sir,  and  leave  the  punishment 
to  God,  whom  you  have  outraged  rather 
than  myself. ' ' 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    509 

While  these  scenes  \vere  being  enacted 
in  the  bishop's  room,  an  individual  chanced 
to  see  his  colored  servant  in  the  convent 
yard,  and  picked  up  a  quarrel  with  him, 
endeavoring  to  elicit  an  acknowledgement 
that  he  it  was,  who  had  tied  the  Indian 
sentinels  the  night  before.  The  colored 
man,  while  protesting  that  his  lordship 
himself  had  done  the  work,  was  stretched 
on  the  ground  by  one  fell  blow  of  a  stick  in 
the  hands  of  his  assailer.  A  number  of 
young  friars,  who  were  firm  believers  in 
muscular  monasticism,  rushed  to  the  as 
sistance  of  the  Negro,  and  cleared  the  yard 
of  armed  men.  The  rioters  in  the  interior, 
of  the  building  unexpectedly  meeting  with 
resistance,  and  realizing  that  they  should 
have  either  to  shed  blood  within  the  sacred 
precincts,  and  thereby  incur  excommuni 
cation,  or  withdraw,  retired,  and  left  the 
bishop  in  peace. 

The  disgraceful  doings  just  described  all 
took  place  before  nine  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing  ;  but  by  noon  of  the  same  day,  a  com 
plete  revulsion  of  popular  sentiments  had 
already  apparently  taken  place.  The 
leaders  had  come  to  ask  forgivenes  on 
their  knees  to  L,as  Casas,  and  the  Cabildo 
and  city  officers  had  presented  themselves 
without  their  side-arms  and  insignia  of 


5io    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

office,  in  sign  of  submission  and  repentance. 
A  procession  was  formed  and  the  bishop 
was  escorted,  in  a  manner  befitting  his 
episcopal  dignity,  to  one  of  the  best  houses 
in  town,  which  had  been  hurriedly  fitted  up 
for  his  reception. 

Some  writers  have  gone  to  considerable 
trouble  to  explain  this  sudden  change  of 
front  by  the  Spaniards  of  Ciudad  Real. 
The  explanation  is  not  far  to  seek.  There 
were  in  town  quite  a  number  of  late  emi 
grants  from  Spain,  conservative  men,  who 
owned  no  slaves,  and  who  had  taken  no 
part  in  the  riotous  proceedings.  They 
naturally  sided  with  the  bishop.  After  the 
frensied  excitement  of  the  morning,  as 
generally  happens  in  like  cases,  reason  re 
asserted  itself,  and  the  haughty  and  heart 
less  Conquistadores  realized  that  they  might 
yet  have  to  pay  for  their  outrages  with  the 
confiscation  of  their  estates  and  possibly 
with  exile  or  life  imprisonment  in  a  Spanish 
dungeon.  Steps  were  therefore  taken  to 
disarm  the  bishop's  anger,  and  public 
games  and  popular  demonstrations  in  his 
honor  were  decreed  to  take  place  on  the 
day  after  Christmas.  The  holy  days  were 
spent  in  the  best  of  harmony,  and  judging 
from  outward  manifestations  of  respect  and 
veneration,  one  might  have  thought  L,as 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    511 

Casas  the  best  beloved  pastor  of  his  flock 
in  all  Christendom.  But  the  slave-owners 
had  not  surrendered  to  their  enemy  ;  only 
their  tactics  had  been  changed. 

If  they  could  but  nullify  the  work  of  the 
Dominicans,  the  friars  would  perhaps  re 
alize,  in  the  course  of  time,  that  their  zeal 
was  exercised  in  vain,  and  leave  the 
country.  The  bishop,  thus  deprived  of 
their  assistance  and  of  their  influence, 
would  probably  follow  in  their  footsteps. 
Accordingly  before  many  days  had  passed 
of  the  year  1546,  it  was  decided  to  under 
take  a  raid  on  the  mission  of  Cinacatlan. 
The  maurauders  marched  into  the  pueblo 
in  serried  ranks,  where  the  leaders  rushed 
into  the  convent,  and,  while  they  quarrelled 
with  the  Fathers  and  clamored  to  be  ab 
solved,  the  rank  and  file  sacked  the  village. 
Then  they  marched  back  into  Ciudad  Real, 
as  if  in  triumph. 

Why  had  not  a  special  officer  been  sent 
to  Central  America  to  promulgate  the  new 
laws  and  to  try  to  have  them  accepted  as 
had  been  done  in  Mexico,  Hispaniola  and 
Peru?  It  had  been  done,  and  Pedro  de 
Quinones  was  the  incumbent.  But  he  was 
in  Nicaragua,  endeavoring  to  expel  captain 
M'elchor  Verdugo,  who  had  been  com 
missioned  by  the  viceroy  of  Peru  to  go  to 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

that  country  and  recruit  loyal  volunteers, 
who  were  to  be  shipped  south  to  oppose  the 
open  rebellion  of  Gonzalo  Pizarro.  Ver- 
dugo  'had  gathered  considerable  reenforce- 
ments  of  men  and  provisions,  but  instead  of 
taking  them  to  Peru,  had  started  a  little 
revolution  of  his  own  in  Nicaragua,  and 
had  become  the  terror  of  that  country. 
It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  whole  of 
Spanish  America  was  in  a  state  of  semi 
anarchy  and  that  the  supremacy  of  Spanish 
power  hung  by  a  thread.  The  new  laws 
were  the  cause  of  it  all,  and  the  officers  of 
the  crown  had  adopted  everywhere  (except 
in  Peru)  an  attitude  of  yielding  indulgence, 
and  of  forbearance,  fearing  that  the  sudden 
and  strict  enforcement  of  the  new  legis 
lation,  instead  of  mending,  would^  make 
matters  worse.  These  considerations  had 
guided  the  Audiencia  of  Gracias  a  Dios  in 
sending  commissioner  Rogel  to  Ciudad  Real 
to  replace  Quinones  and  to  throw  oil  on  the 
troubled  waters,  while  partially  complying 
with  the  peremptory  requests  of  the  Protector 
of  the  Indians. 

Charles  V.,  on  the  2oth  of  November, 
1545,  had  mitigated  and  partially  repealed 
the  new  laws,  ,biit  when  Rogel  reached 
Ciudad  Real  at  the  beginning  of  1546  the 
news  had  not  yet  arrived  in  that  city. 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    513 

Las  Casas  was  getting  ready  for  another 
long  journey  to  Mexico  city,  the  object  of 
which  was  to  attend  a  convention  of  all  the 
bishops  and  of  the  most  prominent  ec 
clesiastics  of  New  Spain,  called  together 
by  a  special  royal  commissioner  ad  Jioc^ 
named  Francisco  Tello  de  Sandoval.  The 
matters  to  be  discussed  by  the  prelates  were 
the  relations  existing,  or  that  should  exist 
between  the  Spaniards  and  the  Indians.  j 

As  might  have  been  expected  of  him, 
Las  Casas  began  pleading  in  behalf  of  his 
afflicted  flock  with  commissioner  Rogel,  as 
soon  as  the  judge  arrived  in  town,  and 
quoted  frequently  the  new  laws.  One  day 
Rogel,  who  seems  to  have  been  of  a  well 
balanced  turn  of  mind,  answered  Las  Casas 
as  follows:  "Your  lordship  knows  very 
well  that  those  new  laws  were  enacted  in 
Valladolid  by  the  combined  wisdom  of 
learned  and  experienced  men  ;  but  one  of 
the  reasons  why  they  are  so  detested  in  the 
Indies  is  because  your  lordship  had  a  hand 
in  soliciting  and  in  framing  the  same. 
TheConquistadoresare  so  prejudiced  against 
you,  that  whatever  you  do,  appears  to  them 
as  done,  not  so  much  for  the  love  you  bear 
the  Indians,  as  through  the  hatred  you  bear 
the  Spaniards.  Your  lordship  has  been 
called  by  Don  Francisco  Tello  to  the  con- 
33 


514    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

vention  of  prelates,  which  he  is  convoking 
in  Mexico  city.  I  would  be  much  pleased, 
if  your  lordship  should  hasten  your  de 
parture,  because  as  long  as  you  will  be 
here,  I'll  be  able  to  do  nothing.  I  would 
not  like  them  to  think,  that  it  is  to  please 
you,  that  I  do  what  I  am  otherwise  in  duty 
bound  to  do,  because  it  would  then  all  be 
labor  lost. " 

L,as  Casas  felt  the  force  of  the  unpalatable 
arguments  and  hastened  his  preparations  to 
leave  Ciudad  Real  for  Mexico  city.  The 
journey  was  begun  during  the  first  week  of 
lent,  but  the  travelling  was  done  by  easy 
stages,  as  it  was  yet  several  months  before 
the  time  appointed  for  the  meeting  of  the 
council.  The  Spaniards,  who  had  been  at 
peace  with  their  bishop  for  three  months, 
made  some  demonstration  of  sorrow  at  his 
departure,  and  a  goodly  number  of  men  ac 
companied  him  on  foot  as  far  as  Cinacatlan. 
Here  the  bishop  spent  several  weeks  with 
the  Dominicans,  conferring  with  them  and 
discussing  the  matters  or  schemata  to  be 
treated  by  the  council ;  for  he  expected  that 
the  doctrines  heretofore  preached  and  up 
held  so  tenaciously  by  himself  and  his 
fellow-friars  would  be  much  controverted 
in  the  City  of  Mexico.  He  meant  to  be 
well  prepared  to  defend  them  single  handed, 


Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    515 

if  necessary,  inasmuch  as,  since  his  return 
from  Gracias  a  Dios,  he  had  received  letters 
from  the  royal  commissioner  Francisco 
Tello  de  Sandoval,  almost  reprimanding 
him  for  having  denied  the  Sacraments  to 
the  Conquistadores,  thereby  condemning  the 
conduct  of  the  other  American  bishops,  who 
had  adopted  more  conciliatory  methods. 

L,as  Casas '  travelling  companions  on  this 
occasion  were  Father  L,adrada,  Vicente 
Ferrer,  Luis  Cancer,  Dominicans,  and 
canon  Perera.  The  latter,  at  some  time  or 
other,  had  held  opinions  on  the  subject  of 
Indian  slavery  contrary  to  those  of  the 
bishop.  But,  after  assisting  at  the  Cina- 
catlan  conferences,  became  so  convinced 
that  the  friars  were  in  the  right,  that  he 
returned  to  Ciudad  Real  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  correcting  his  past  error  in  the  presence 
of  the  cathedral  congregation.  He  read 
from  the  pulpit  a  statement  on  the  subject 
after  which  a  sermon  followed  so  con 
vincing  and  persuasive,  that  several  slave 
owners  in  the  audience  repented  of  their 
past  sins. 

Bravo  !  canon  Perera  ;  your  name,  linked 
to  that  of  the  immortal  Protector  of  the 
Indians,  will  go  down  to  posterity  as  that 
of  an  honest  man  and  of  a  good  priest. 
You  first  obeyed  your  bishop,  contrary  to 


5i 6  Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

your  own  convictions,  and,  when  these 
vanished  before  valid  argument,  you  con 
fessed  your  error. 

The  bishop  and  his  companions  made 
another  stop  in  the  town  of  Antequera,  in 
the  Diocese  of  Oaxaca,  where  they  lodged 
in  the  Dominican  convent  of  the  place. 
Here  L,as  Casas  heard  that  his  quondam 
dean  Quintana  was  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  took  some  steps  to  have  him  arrested, 
but  did  not  succeed.  The  dean  (I  say  it 
here  to  be  done  with  him)  proceeded  to 
Mexico,  where,  through  the  intercession  of 
influential  friends,  he  succeeded  to  have 
himself  readmitted  to  the  exercise  of  his 
ministry.  But,  unrepentant,  and  fixed  in 
his  ideas,  he  made  his  way  back  to  Ciudad 
Real,  and,  having  obtained  from  the  Con- 
quist  adores  power  of  attorney  to  act  for  them 
in  Spain,  went  to  court  as  their  agent 
against  L,as  Casas.  He  never  relented  in 
his  efforts  to  down  his  former  bishop  until 
he  saw  him  resign  the  mitre.  The  un 
fortunate  dean  was  drowned  during  his  re 
turn  voyage  to  America. 

Las  Casas'  journey  was  nearing  its  end, 
and  the  news  of  his  impending  entrance 
into  the  City  of  Mexico  affected  the  citizens, 
as  if  an  army  was  threatening  the  American 
metropolis.  His  name  was  on  everybody's 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    517 

tongue  and  it  was  feared  that  some  disorder 
might  be  caused  by  his  sudden  appearance. 
Sandoval  therefore  sent  him  word  not  to 
enter  the  city,  until  further  advised.  When 
however  the  bishop  of  Chiapa  arrived  at 
ten  o'clock  the  following  morning,  the 
crowds,  who  had  gathered  to  see  the  re 
nowned  Protector  of  the  Indians,  uttered 
not  a  disrespectful  word.  On  the  contrary 
some  passersby  (who  must  have  owned  no 
slaves)  were  heard  to  remark:  u there 
goes  the  holy  bishop,  the  true  Father  of  the 
Indians."  Thousands  of  others  must  in 
their  hearts  have  admired  and  applauded 
the  friend  of  the  friendless,  as  he  wended 
his  way  to  the  Dominican  convent. 

That  same  afternoon  the  viceroy  and  the 
judges  of  the  Audiencia  called  to  pay  their 
respects  to  the  bishop  of  Chiapa.  Promptly 
L/as  Casas  gave  another  sign  of  his  exces 
sively  unbending  character.  It  should 
have  been  expected  that,  for  the  sake  of 
his  Indians,  if  for  nothing  else,  the  Pro 
tector  of  the  Indians  would  have  treated  the 
gentlemen,  who  had  in  their  hands  the 
government  of  New  Spain,  with  the  defer 
ence  and  consideration  due  to  their  ex 
alted  positions  and  to  their  rank.  But, 
no  sooner  had  they  left  his  apartments, 
when  L,as  Casas  sent  them  word,  not  to  ex- 


518    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

pect  Mm  to  return  their  visit,  as  they  had 
incurred  excommunication  by  ordering, 
some  time  before,  the  amputation  of  a 
clergyman's  hand  (for  what  crime  it  is  not 
said)  in  the  city  of  Antequera.  Of  course 
the  news  of  the  bishop's  sally  spread 
through  the  city,  and,  as  the  judges  could 
produce  plausible  reasons  for  their  official 
action,  not  they,  but  the  bishop  was  made 
the  butt  of  much  witty  criticism. 

It  is  astonishing,  that,  notwithstanding 
his  bluntness  and  his  apparent  inclination 
to  court  opposition  by  flinging,  in  season 
and  out  of  season,  unpalatable  truths  in  the 
face  of  officialdom,  Las  Casas,  not  only 
commanded  the  respect  of  all  that  were 
sincere  and  honorable,  but,  by  the  force  of 
his  eloquence,  the  purity  of  his  life,  and  by 
his  disinterestedness,  generally  succeeded 
in  the  end  to  bring  them  over  to  his  way 
of  thinking.  In  the  council,  over  which 
the  archbishop  of  Mexico  presided,  Las 
Casas  soon  became  the  leading  spirit.  The 
other  members,  having  a  voice  in  its  de 
liberations,  were  the  bishops  of  Guatemala, 
Oaxaca,  Michoacan  and  Tlascala ;  the 
superiors  or  provincials  of  the  religious 
orders,  and  the  most  prominent  theologians 
and  jurists  to  be  found  in  New  Spain. 

No  other  convention  of  men  (that  which 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    519 

declared  the  independence  of  these  United 
States  not  excepted),  assembled  on  this 
western  continent  in  the  interests  of  liberty, 
ever  had  as  weighty  problems  to  solve. 
The  bishop  of  Chiapa  took  care  from  the 
beginning  that  the  council  should  not  re 
solve  itself  into  a  debating  society,  for  the 
display  of  the  oratorical  talents  of  its  mem 
bers,  and  insisted,  that  certain  indisputable 
principles  should  first  be  agreed  upon,  as  a 
basis  of  all  discussions  ;  and  he  carried  his 
point.  I  will  translate  five  of  these  prin 
ciples  which  embody  the  others. 

ist.  All  persons,  no  matter  what  sect 
or  religion  they  may  profess,  and  no  matter 
what  sins  they  may  have  been  guilty  of, 
rightfully  own  and  possess  what  they  ac 
quired  without  prejudice  to  others.  The 
principle  applies  to  their  kingdoms,  prin 
cipalities,  seignories,  dignities  and  juris 
dictions. 

2nd.  Only  one  method  was  appointed 
by  divine  providence  to  teach  the  true  re- 
legion  to  pagans,  i.  e.  that  which  through 
the  reasoning  faculties  convinces  the  in 
tellect,  and  attracts  the  will  by  the  gentle 
ways  of  charity.  This  applies  to  all  man 
kind  irrespective  of  errors  and  corruption 
of  morals. 

3rd.     The  Holy   See,  in  granting  the 


52O    Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

supreme  dominion  over  the  Indies  had 
only  one  object  in  view,  and  that  was  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel,  the  spread  of  the 
Christian  religion,  and  the  conversion  of 
the  aborigines.  It  did  not  intend  to  make 
the  Castilian  monarchs  greater  or  richer 
princes  than  they  were  before. 

4th.  In  making  said  grant  the  Holy 
See  did  not  intend  to  deprive  the  native 
rulers  of  their  estates,  jurisdictions  or  dig 
nities.  Much  less  did  it  mean  to  confer 
upon  the  kings  of  Spain  the  power  to  do 
aught  that  might  retard  or  obstruct  in  any 
manner  the  conversion  of  the  natives. 

5th.  The  kings  of  Spain,  inasmuch  as 
they  offered  and  bound  themselves  to  pro 
vide  the  means  for  preaching  the  gospel  in 
the  Indies,  are  obliged  by  the  law  of  God 
to  pay  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  evan 
gelical  laborers. " 

It  is  not  difficult  to  read  the  unmistak 
able  handwriting  of  the  Protector  of  the 
Indians  in  the  foregoing  propositions.  Are 
not  these  his  very  doctrines  advocated  for 
thirty  years  in  the  presence  of  kings  and 
emperors,  and  against  all  comers?  Had  he 
not  preached  them  from  the  pulpit  and 
from  the  rostrum,  and  especially  and  ex 
professo  in  his  treaty  De  TJnico  Vocationis 
Modo? 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    521 

The  principles  are  to  us  almost  self- 
evident  r  but  it  is  nevertheless  remarkable 
that  they  were  subscribed  by  every  member 
of  that  civil  ecclesiastical  council,  if  we 
consider  that  the  conclusions  drawn  from 
them  could  not  but  vindicate  the  past  con 
duct  of  L,as  Casas,  and  read  a  stinging 
rebuke  to  the  Conquistadores  and  to  the  ec 
clesiastics  who  had  opposed  him. 

-  Las  Casas  had  let  no  opportunity  pass, 
during  the  sittings  of  the  convention,  which 
lasted  several  weeks,  to  press  a  resolution 
containing  an  explicit  declaration  that  the 
slavery  of  the  Indians  was  tyrannical 
and  unjust ;  but  the  presiding  officer  had 
always  succeeded  in  sidetracking  it  under 
various  pretexts.  As  the  champion  of 
liberty  was  persistent  in  clamoring  that  it 
be  taken  up  and  passed,  he  was  at  last  told 
privately  by  the  viceroy,  that,  if  the  ques 
tion  had  been  ignored,  it  was  because  he 
himself  had  instructed  the  learned  body  not 
to  touch  upon  it  at  present,  for  reasons  of 
state.. 

L,as  Casas  made  no  reply.  But  the  fol-^ 
lowing  Sunday,  it  being  his  turn  to  preach 
in  the  presence  of  the  council,  and  of  the 
viceroy al  court,  he  took  occasion  to  speak 
of  the  state  reasons,  and  selected  for  his 
text  the  8th,  9th  and  the  loth  verses  of  Isaias: 


522    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas 

"Now  then,  go  in  and  write  for  them  upon 
box,  and  note  it  diligently  in  a  book,  and 
it  shall  be  in  the  latter  days  for  a  testimony 
for  ever.  For  it  is  a  people  that  provoketh 
to  wrath,  and  lying  children,  children  that 
will  not  hear  the  law  of  God.  Wlio  say  to 
the  seers:  "See  not;  and  to  them  that  be- 
Jiold:  Behold  not  those  things  for  us,  that 
are  right;  speak  to  us  pleasant  things." 
The  sermon  made  a  deep  impression  on 
viceroy  Mendoza  (undoubtedly  a  well 
meaning  man  and  a  great  benefactor  of 
Mexico)  who  expressed  himself  as  sorry 
for  not  having  allowed  the  subject  of  Indian 
slavery  to  be  taken  up  during  the  sittings 
of  the  council.  Las  Casas  suggested  that 
the  mischief  could  be  partially  undone  by 
an  unofficial  junta  of  all  the  members  of  the 
convention  (except  the  bishops)  called  to 
gether  to  discuss  and  decide  the  question. 
Mendoza  accepted  the  suggestion  and 
promised  to  officially  submit  the  findings  of 
the  junta  to  the  consideration  of  the  em 
peror.  The  sittings  of  this  unofficial  body 
were  many,  at  which  the  Protector  of  the 
Indians  was  ably  represented ,  as  his  mouth 
piece,  by  Father  Luis  Cancer.  At  one  of 
the  sittings  the  question  arose,  if  it  was 
lawful  to  hold  as  slaves  the  Indian  prisoners 
of  war.  It  was  presented,  not  in  the  ab- 


Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    523 

stract,  but  as  a  concrete  proposition  :  "could 
the  so-called  prisoners  of  war  captured  by 
theConquistadoresbe  considered  as  slaves?" 
It  was  held  by  some  of  the  members  that 
they  could,  whenever  the  Indians,  having 
previously  been  notified  that  the  pope  had 
granted  the  supreme  dominion  to  Spain 
over  the  Indies,  refused  to  submit,  and 
thereby  brought  about  the  conflict.  *) 

*)  A  word  of  explanation  is  here  necessary  for 
those  of  my  readers  who  may  not  be  familiar  with 
the  history  of  the  Spanish  conquest  of  America. 
It  was  necessary  to  give  color  and  an  appearance 
of  justice  to  said  conquest ;  and  from  the  times  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  the  Conquistadores,had 
been  officially  instructed  to  always  give  the  In 
dians  sufficient  instruction  about  the  Christian 
religion  before  asking  them  to  submit  to  Spanish 
supremacy.  If  they  refused,  after  the  Requeri- 
miento  or  summons  to  acknowledge  their  allegiance 
to  the  king  of  Spain,  war  could  then  be  made 
against  them  to  subdue  them.  A  formula  of  Re- 
querimiento  had  been  drawn  up  and  placed  in  the 
hands  of  every  adventurer  or  Conquistador,  who 
proposed  to  make  any  addition  to  the  American 
Spanish  possessions.  This  official  Requerimiento 
had  been  turned  into  a  ridiculous  farce  by  the 
Conquistadore's  who  desired  nothing  better  than  to 
make  prisoners  of  war  to  sell  them  into  slavery. 
I/as  Casas  gives  the  formula,  commenting  bitterly 
upon  it,  in  the  LVII.  Chp.  of  the  third  book  of 
his  Historia  de  Las  Indias.  But  even  that  farcical 
performance  was  frequently  omitted  or  curtailed. 

A  few  Spanish  soldiers  would  suddenly  appear 
in  a  pueblo,  and  having  called  the  natives  by  a 
few  blasts  of  the  bugle,  something  like  the  follow 
ing  would  be  read  to  them  in  Spanish,  not  a  word 


524    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

Thereupon  Luis  Cancer  drew  out  of  his 
pocket  a  copy  of  the  Requerimiento,  read 
it,  denounced  it  as  a  cruel  parody  on 
justice,  and  proved  that  such  as  it  was, 
it  seldom  was  served  according  to  the 
intention  and  direction  of  the  king. 

of  which  was  understood  by  the  Indians]:  "Listen 
you  Indians  of  this  pueblo.  There  is  only  one 
true  God,  and  one  true  religion.  The  vicar  of  God 
on  earth  is  called  the  pope,  who  is  the  sovereign 
lord  of  all  the  universe.  He  gave  this  country  to 
the  kings  of  Spain,  who  sent  us  here  to  invite 
you  to  become  Christians.  If  you  do  so,  and 
acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  Spain,  we  will 
treat  you  kindly  and  leave  you  free  in  the  enjoy 
ment  of  all  your  possessions.  If  not,  we  will 
wage  war  against  you  with  fire  and  sword,  and 
make  you  slaves."  Sometime  it  happened  that  not 
an  Indian  was  in  sight  when  the  Requerimiento 
was  made.  * 

The  witty  official  chronicler  of  Charles  V.  (Oviedo), 
having  once  been  called  upon  to  read  the  Requeri 
miento  to  some  warlike  South  Americans,  who  had 
just  given  a  sound  thrashing  to  Pedrarias  and  his 
ferocious  soldiers,  remarked:  "It  seems  to  me  that 
these  Indians  do  not  care  to  listen  to  the  theology 
of  this  Requerimiento.  Please  keep  it  until  we 
shall  have  some  of  them  in  a  cage,  where  they 
will  have  leisure  to  memorize  it,  while  the  bishop 
(Quevedo)  will  take  pleasure  in  explaining  it  to 
them." 

On  another  occasion  the  Requerimiento  had  been 
made  seriously  to  a  South  American  cacique,  and 
an  intelligent  explanation  of  it  had  been  given 
him.  The  chief,  after  a  brief  reflection,  made 
answer  as  follows:  "Your  pope  and  the  king  of 
Castile  must  be  two  fools,  one  for  giving  away 
what  did  not  belong  to  him,  and  the  other  for 
accepting  it." 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    525 

One  of  the  conclusions  reached  by  the 
junta  was,  that  all  Indian  slaves,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  renegade  rebels, 
had  been  enslaved  unjustly.  Another  de 
clared  that  all  personal  service  imposed 
on  the  Indians,  who  were  not  slaves,  was 
unlawful  and  unjust. 

The  labors  of  both  the  council  and  the 
junta  bore,  in  the  course  of  years,  abun 
dant  fruit.  One  man,  no  matter  how 
powerful,  could  not  at  one  blow  tear  down 
the  hideous  edifice  of  slavery,  but,  at  each 
blow  of  L,as  Casas,  one  of  the  foundation 
stones  was  removed,  and  the  condition  of 
the  Indians  improved.  The  council  wrote 
a  memorial  to  the  emperor  embodying 
the  conclusions  agreed  upon,  thus  inform 
ing  him  that  the  bishops,  theologians  and 
jurists  of  America,  agreed,  in  principle 
at  least,  with  those  of  Spain,  in  declaring 
that  the  Indians  should  be  free. 

Another  practical  point  was  gained  of 
great  importance  to  the  natives.  It  con 
sisted  in  a  set  of  instructions  sent  out  by 
the  bishops,  to  all  the  secular  and  regular 
priests  throughout  New  Spain,  instructing 
them  how  to  deal  with  penitent  slave 
owners  and  with  those  who  had  acquired 
wealth  by  the  enforced  labor  of  the  In 
dians.  These  were  thus  placed  under  the 


526    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

protection  of  the  confessional,  a  more 
powerful  shield,  than  the  well  meaning 
kings  of  Spain  had  been  able  to  afford 
them  with  the  smoothly  rounded  periods 
of  the  innumerable  decrees,  which  had 
been  enacted  in  their  behalf.  So  clear 
and  unequivocal  were  the  instructions, 
that  it  was  well  nigh  impossible  to  evade 
them.  The  Spaniards  of  New  Spain  found 
them  so  radical  and  subversive  of  their 
preconceived  ideas  concerning  their  worldly 
interests,  that  the  first  copies  intended 
for  circulation  were  seized,  and  sent  to 
Charles  V.  with  a  protest  against  their  be 
ing  put  in  practice.  *) 


*)  The  first  printing  press  on  this  continent  was 
imported  from  Spain  by  viceroy  Mendoza  to  Mexico 
city,  and  among  the  first  matters  printed  were  the 
instructions  to  confessors  adopted  by  the  council  in 
behalf  of  American  liberty. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

Las  Casas  goes  to   Spain  and   crosses  the 
Atlantic  for  the  Last  Time.   * 

JT  seems  that  L,as  Casas  was  already  re 
volving  in  his  mind,  the  resignation  of 
his  See  at  the  time,  when  he  had  bidden  fare 
well,  amidst  the  tears  of  the  community, 
to  his  fellow  Dominicans  of  Cinacatlan,  on 
his  leaving  for  Mexico  to  attend  the  council. 
In  fact  he  had  turned  over  to  them  his 
few  belongings  as  a  loan,  which,  it  was 
understood,  would  become  a  gift,  should  he 
sail  for  Spain. 

The  news  of  the  partial  abrogation  and 
suspension  of  the  new  laws  had  reached 
him  in  Mexico  city,  and  it  was  a  blow  the 
like  of  which  he  had  not  received  since  the 
catastrophe  of  Cumana.  Hereafter  the 
Spaniards  of  Ciudad  Real  would  consider 
him  a  conquered  foe,  and  a  harmless  fanatic, 
and  his  usefulness  there  was  at  an  end.  He 
must  also  have  considered  that  his  eight  or 
ten  years  residence  in  Spain  had  accom 
plished  more  good  for  his  Indians,  than  the 
twenty  or  twenty-five  spent  in  America. 

(527) 


528    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

During  each  visit  to  the  mother  country  a 
victory  had  been  scored,  while  in  America, 
with  the  exception  of  turning  the  land  of 
war  into  Vera  Paz,  he  had  only  met  with 
apparent  reverses.  His  place  and  his 
sphere  of  action  was  evidently  near  the 
seat  of  government,  whence  he  could  watch 
over  the  interests  of  all  the  Indies,  instead 
of  the  little  turbulent  town  of  southern 
Mexico. 

These  considerations  convinced  the  Pro 
tector  of  the  Indians  of  the  advisability  of 
his  relinquishing  the  government  of  the 
diocese  of  Chiapa  into  the  hands  of  some 
one  else,  who  would  not  be  hampered  by 
antecedents  in  doing  what  good  was  pos 
sible  to  its  one  million  of  Indians.  On  the 
9th  of  November,  1546,  Las  Casas  appointed 
canon  Perera  administrator  and  vicar  general 
of  his  diocese,  and  on  the  following  day  con 
ferred  faculties  to  hear  confession  on  four 
additional  priests  of  the  Dominican  Order, 
and  sent  to  Chiapa  the  instructions  to  con 
fessors  adopted  by  the  council,  by  which 
they  were  to  be  guided  in  the  administration 
of  the  sacrament. 

What  detained  him  in  Mexico  city  is  not 
known,  but  certain  it  is  that  the  Protector 
of  the  Indians  did  not  proceed  to  Vera  Cruz 
to  sail  for  the  last  time  across  the  Atlantic 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    529 

before  tlie  year  1547.  In  May  of  that  year 
I  find  him  in  Valladolid  where  the  ordinary 
headquarters  of  the  council  of  the  Indies 
were  at  that  time.  Las  Casas  gave  the 
councillors  a  detailed  account  of  the  de 
plorable  occurrences  of  the  past  two  years 
in  his  diocese  of  Chiapa,  and  pleaded  with 
as  much  zeal,  eloquence  and  persistency  as 
ever  in  behalf  of  the  Indians.  But  the 
prince-regent  Philip  was  then  in  Aragon,  a 
couple  of  hundred  miles  from  Valladolid 
and  nothing  of  importance  could  be  accom 
plished  there  without  his  presence.  The 
bishop  therefore  took  the  road  again,  and 
went  to  Munzon,  where  Philip  had  con 
vened  the  Cortes,  or  States  General  of  that 
kingdom.  The  reception  given  to  the  ven 
erable  American  prelate  by  the  young 
prince  was  cordial  and  even  affectionate. 
L,as  Casas  had  brought  along  quite  a  bundle 
of  petitions  all  in  favor  of  the  Indians,  and 
all  of  them  were  granted  as  usual.  Thus  I 
find  a  letter  of  Philip  dated  Munzon  the 
22d  of  July,  1547,  and  addressed  to  the 
Cacique  of  Chiapa,  Don  Pedro  Todi,  where 
the  Dominicans  had  built  their  first  con 
vent  in  that  diocese.  It  thanks  with  beauti 
ful  simplicity  the  Indian  chief  for  his  zeal, 
and  the  help  given  the  Fathers  to  bring 
about  the  conversion  of  his  tribe.  Another 


530    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

letter  was  addressed  by  Pliilip  to  tlie  Dom 
inican  Fathers  on  June  the  22d,  approving 
the  way  of  proceeding  in  Chiapa,  praising 
their  zeal,  and  encouraging  them  to  still 
further  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  natives,  and 
promising  to  send  additional  Fathers  to 
help  them  in  the  evangelization  of  the  en 
tire  diocese. 

L,as  Casas  did  not  forget  his  dear  chil 
dren  of  Tuzulutlan,  now  called  Vera  Paz  ; 
for  a  letter  from  Philip  was  addressed  Oc 
tober  the  nth  to  all  the  Caciques  of  that 
province,  praising  them  and  their  people 
for  having  embraced  the  Christian  religion 
and  destroyed  their  temples  and  their  idols. 
The  services  of  the  chiefs,  the  prince  as 
sured  them,  would  not  be  forgotten.  The 
document  ends  by  exhorting  them  to  gather 
their  people  into  pueblos  according  to  the 
wishes  of  the  good  Fathers,  who  were  in 
structing  them. 

The  year  1547  began,  for  the  Protector 
of  the  Indians,  in  Mexico.  The  first  months 
were  spent  on  the  sea  and  travelling  from 
Seville  to  Valladolid,  and  thence  to  Mun- 
zon,  and  the  last  in  the  latter  city.  It  is 
seldom  possible  to  locate  his  whereabouts 
during  the  last  eighteen  years  of  his  life. 
His  headquarters  were,  however,  in  the 
Dominican  convent  at  Valladolid,  where  he 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    531 

wrote  most  of  his  voluminous  works.  How 
much,  of  his  time  was  spent  there  it  is  im 
possible  to  say,  as  he  seems  to  have  been 
constantly  on  the  go  to  wherever  the  inter 
ests  of  his  Indians  required  his  presence. 
Frequently  of  his  own  initiative  and  many 
times  called  in  consultation  by  the  govern 
ment,  he  was,  to  the  very  last  days  of  his 
life,  busy  with  American  affairs.  Numer 
ous  letters  addressed  to  him  from  all  parts 
of  the  Indies  speak  of  him  as  a  member  of 
his  Majesty's  Indian  council,  and  there  is 
extant  an  order  of  Philip  II.  directing  the 
officers  of  the  court  to  always  lodge  com 
fortably  and  entertain  the  bishop  of  Chiapa 
free  of  charge,  no  matter  were  the  court 
might  be.*)  And  Geronimo  de  Mendieta, 
in  his  Historia  Ecclesiastica  Indiana,  tells 
us  that  L,as  Casas  u  resigned  his  bishopric 


*)  "To  Luis  de  Vanegas,  our  chief  majordomo  and 
to  the  stewards  that  are  now,  or  will  be,  whose  duty 
it  is  to  prepare  and  furnish  apartments  for  our  court 
in  this  city  of  Toledo  or  in  any  other  city  or  place 
in  this  our  kingdom  of  Castile  it  is  ordered  :  that  in 
consideration  of  the  services  which  Fray  Bartolome 
de  I/as  Casas 'has  rendered  to  our  august  deceased 
father  the  emperor,  and  is  yet  rendering  to  us,  he  be 
given  lodgings  free  during  all  the  time  which  he 
may  spend  at  court.  We  order  that  he  be  always 
given  good  apartments,  where  he  may  remain  un 
disturbed,  as  a  person  of  his  rank  has  a  right  to  be. 
Given  at  Toledo  the  14th  of  December,  1560.  I,  the 
king.'* 


532    Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

in  order  to  become  their  (the  Indians' )  pro 
curator  general  in  the  court  of  their  Majes 
ties,  in  which  office  he  continued  for 
twenty-two  years." 

L,as  Casas  did  not  actually  resign  his 
See  before  the  year  1550,  when  was  as 
signed  to  him,  out  of  the  royal  treasury,  a 
pension,  as  his  biographers  would  have  it, 
but  which  I  prefer  to  call  a  salary.  For,  to 
all  intent  and  purpose,  the  first  American 
priest,  who  had  been  a  lawyer,  then  a  secu 
lar  priest,  then  a  friar,  then  a  bishop,  had 
last  of  all  become  a  minister  of  state. 

Father  Luis  Cancer  accompanied  him  to 
Spain  evidently  for  the  purpose  of  going  to 
Florida  with  other  Dominicans  to  establish 
missions.  The  armed  expeditions  to  the 
northern  coast  of  the  gulf  of  Mexico  had 
all  ended  in  disaster,  and  there  was  no 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  Spaniards  in 
America  to  engage  in  any  new  venture 
having  in  view  the  conquest  of  the  vast  and 
dreaded  regions  then  vaguely  designated 
with  the  name  of  Florida,  and  now  forming 
the  eastern  half  of  the  United  States.*) 
Hernando  de  Soto's  disastrous  expedition, 
with  as  powerful  an  army  as  had  yet  fol- 

*)  Las  Casas  wrote,  about  this  time,  that  by  Flor 
ida  was  meant  all  the  country  from  the  Bahama 
channel  to  Labrador,  "which,"  says  he,  "is  not  far 
from  the  island  called  England." 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    533 

lowed  any  Conquistador,  was  yet  fresh  in 
trie  memory  of  everybody  in  New  Spain, 
where  the  few  survivors  had  arrived  some 
time  before,  after  years  of  wandering 
through  the  states  of  Florida,  Alabama, 
Georgia,  Mississippi,  Arkansas,  Texas, 
Louisiana  and  the  present  republic  of 
Mexico.  Their  tales  of  sufferings  and 
privations  had  engendered  a  wholesome 
fear  of  the  tribes  of  Seminoles,  Alibamons, 
Choctaws,  Creeks,  Chickasaws  and  Natchez 
of  those  northern  regions.  Here  was  a 
second  land  of  war  to  be  turned  into  an 
other  Vera  Paz,  and  the  apostles  of  Tuzu- 
lutlan  decided  to  conquer  it  by  peaceful 
ways  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 

One  of  the  first  cares  of  Las  Casas  on  his 
arrival  in  Spain  was  to  enter  into  negotia 
tions  with  prince  Philip  for  the  purpose  of 
organizing  a  missionary  expedition  to  Flor 
ida,  headed  by  saintly,  learned,  and  fear 
less  Father  Luis  Cancer.  These  particulars 
forming  an  interesting  page  of  the  ecclesi 
astical  history  of  the  United  States  are 
gathered  from  two  letters  written  by  the 
martyr  priest  himself  in  Seville  and  ad 
dressed  to  Las  Casas.  One  of  them  is  dated 
the  6th  and  the  other  the  24th  of  February, 
and  though  the  year  is  not  given,  it  is  clear 
that  they  were  written  in  1548.  At  the 


534    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

solicitation  of  L,as  Casas  carte  l)lanclie  had 
been  given  to  L,uis  Cancer  to  charter  a  car 
avel  and  to  provide  it  with  all  necessary 
equipments  and  provisions  as  early  as 
November  1547.  The  full  name  of  this 
first  martyr  of  our  country  was  Luis  Cancer 
de  Barbastro,  and  his  native  city  was  Zara- 
goza  in  Spain.  It  took  him  several  months 
before  he  could  get  his  caravel  ready  to 
leave  San  L,ucar  de  Barrameda  for  Vera 
Cruz  in  Mexico.  The  reason  of  his  trav 
elling  to  Mexico  before  going  to  Florida 
was  to  get  a  pilot  acquainted  with  the 
waters  of  the  Mexican  Gulf,  and  fetch  one 
of  the  Fathers  from  New  Spain  who  was  to 
be  his  fellow  missioner  in  Florida. 

Ignatio  de  Urutia,  a  Cuban  historian, 
thus  describes  their  deaths:  "They  arrived 
with  letters  of  recommendation  from  the 
governor  of  New  Spain  to  that  of  Havana 
and  were  well  received.  Having  been 
given  all  that  was  needed  for  their  trip, 
they  went  to  Florida.  Father  Diego  de 
Penalosa  and  the  lay  brother  Fuentes  dis 
embarked  in  the  bay  of  Espiritu  Santo 
(Tampa  Bay)  and  proceeded  to  the  interior, 
where  they  received  the  crown  of  martyr 
dom  at  the  hands  of  the  natives.  When  the 
news  reached  the  other  Fathers,  who  had 
remained  on  board  the  ship,  Father  L,uis 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    535 

Cancer,  fired  with  holy  jealousy,  landed  in 
spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  his  com 
panions,  and  in  full  view  of  those  on  board, 
received  the  same  crown  of  martyrdom.*) 

I  have  said  before  that  the  set  of  instruc 
tions  (in  Spanish  they  were  called  a  con- 
fesionario)  adopted  by  the  convention  or 
council  of  Mexico,  were  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  confessors  in  the  diocese  of 
Chiapa,  and  that  the  regulation's  concern 
ing  the  absolution  of  slave  owners  were  so 
iron-clad  that  copies  of  them  had  been  sent 
to  Charles  V.  together  with  a  protest  from 
the  Spaniards.  As  the  confesionario  was 
unimpeachable  on  the  ground  of  moral 
theology,  the  citizens  of  Ciudad  Real  ad 
vanced  the  plea,  that  it  challenged  the 
validity  of  the  title  of  the  kings  of  Spain  to 
their  American  possessions.  It  was  prob 
ably  at  the  beginning  of  1548  that  the  em 
peror  asked  L,as  Casas  for  an  explanation 
of  his  ideas  on  the  subject.  As  the  confes 
ionario  had  been  proposed  to  the  Mexican 
council  by  himself,  and  the  instructions 
were  the  same  as  those  formerly  given  to 
dean  Gil  Quintana  and  canon  Perera,  the 


*)  Luis  Cancer  de  Barbastro  seems  to  me  entitled 
to  the  honor  of  the  altars.  Is  he  not  a  martyr  in  the 
strictest  sense,  having  died  for  the  exclusive  pur 
pose  of  preaching  the  gospel  ?  Who  will  interest 
himself  in  his  canonization  ? 


536    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

bisliop  of  Chiapa  felt  in  duty  bound  to  give 
his  reasons  for  them,  not  only  to  the  em 
peror,  but  especially  to  silence  the  pre 
judiced  criticisms  of  the  Spaniards  in 
America. 

A  treaty  was  therefore  written  in  defense 
of  the  confesionario,  which  L,as  Casas 
called  tratado  comprobatorio.  The  lengthy 
title  given  to  the  work  explains  its  object. 

"Herein  are  contained  thirty  proposi 
tions  in  jurisprudence,  touching  succinctly 
on  many  subjects  pertaining  to  the  right, 
that  the  Church  and  Christian  monarchs 
have,  or  may  have,  on  pagan  people  of  all 
classes.  In  a  special  manner  is  herein 
pointed  out  the  fundamental  origin  of  the 
title,  which  the  kings  of  Castile  and  L,eon 
have  to  the  supreme  dominion  of  all  the 
Indies,  whereby  they  are  the  rightful  uni 
versal  lords  and  emperors  of  them  all  and 
of  their  many  native  rulers.  Many  other 
things  well  worth  knowing  are  also  pointed 
out  concerning  the  conquest  of  the  Western 
World.  These  thirty  propositions  have 
been  formulated  by  the  quondam  bishop  of 
Ciudad  Real  in  the  Indies,  Fray  Bartolome 
de  Ivas  Casas. " 

As  Las  Casas  was  in  the  habit  of  giving 
in  the  title  of  each  of  his  works  a  descrip 
tion  of  its  contents,  so  in  what  he  calls  the 


Life  ofBartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    537 

argument  lie  also  gives  the  reasons  or 
causes  for  writing  it.  The  argument  of 
his  Tratado  Comprobatorio  reads  as  fol 
lows  : 

u  Fifty  years  of  experience  had  taught 
Fray  Bartolom^  de  Las  Casas,  bishop  of 
Chiapa,  in  New  Spain,  that  the  Spaniards 
in  the  Indies  were  living  in  a  deplorable 
state  of  sin,  that  especially  those  of  his 
diocese  were  greatly  in  need  of  light,  to 
enable  them  to  see  the  error  of  their  ways 
and  to  know  their  sins,  and  that  therefore 
it  was  incumbent  upon  him,  as  the  shep 
herd  of  the  flock,  to  devise  means  to  en 
lighten  them,  and  to  draw  them  out  of 
danger.  As  all  this  could  scarcely  be  done 
except  by  sermons  and  through  the  confes 
sional,  he  prepared  a  set  of  instructions  in 
the  form  of  a  confesionario  which  was  to 
serve  as  a  guide  to  confessors  in  the  ad 
ministration  of  the  sacrament  of  penance. 
This  confesionario,  having  been  brought 
over  to  this  kingdom  .of  Castile,  was  re 
vised,  and  revised  again,  by  six  different 
and  eminent  doctors  of  theology,  and  was 
approved  and  countersigned  by  them.  But 
some  enemies  of  the  truth,  ignorant  of 
what  had  been  done  in  the  Indies,  and  of 
the  right  by  which  it  had  been  done,  in 
order  to  palliate  and  excuse  certain  nefari- 


538    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

ous  crimes,  made  of  one  of  the  rules  con 
tained  in  the  confesionario  a  pretext  for 
calumniating  him  by  pretending  to  see  in 
it  a  doctrine  which  denies  the  validity  of 
the  title,  which  gave  the  kings  of  Castile 
the  supreme  dominion  over  the  New 
World." 

I  will  also  give  what  he  calls  the  pro 
logue  of  the  work,  because  these  extracts 
are  autobiographical,  and  describe  the  life 
of  Las  Casas  at  this  period  better  than  any 
thing  that  I  might  write. 

"Your  Highness  requested  me  to  appear 
before  the  council  of  the  Indies  on  account 
of  a  confesionario,  which  I  wrote  for  the 
guidance  of  confessors,  who  heard  the  con 
fessions  of  the  Spaniards  in  my  diocese, 
containing,  you  say,  certain  propositions 
from  which  the  deduction  might  be  drawn, 
according  to  the  opinion  of  some  readers, 
that  the  title  to  the  sovereignty  over  the 
Indies  now  exercised  by  the  kings  of 
Castile,  is  not  valid.  This  is  a  very 
weighty  matter  and  it  requires  a  large 
treaty  to  deal  with  it  properly,  inasmuch 
as  it  would  pass  through  the  hands  of 
eminent  and  learned  persons.  I  have 
studied  the  subject  for  the  past  several 
years  and  I  have  begun  just  such  a  treaty. 
But  as  your  Highness  is  in  a  hurry  to  send 


Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    539 

it  to  his  Majesty,  I  thought  it  advisable  to 
compose  this  compendium  of  all  that  I 
have  learned  from  the  law  of  God  on  this 
subject,  without  stopping  to  give  the  proofs 
of  my  opinions.  The  proofs,  and  all  the 
rest,  will  appear  in  another  treaty,  which, 
please  God,  your  Highness  will  see  me  pro 
duce  in  the  council  of  the  Indies.  As  it 
will  be  necessary  to  touch  on  matters  per 
taining  to  faith,  I  hereby  submit  all  that  I 
have  to  say,  to  the  correction  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Church." 

We  have  therefore  two  treatises  on  the 
same  subject  written  between  the  first  of 
January  1548  and  the  thirty-first  of  Decem 
ber  1549.  But  these  represent  but  a  frac 
tion  of  L,as  Casas'  work  during  those  two 
years. 

"This  treaty  was  written  by  Fray  Bar- 
tolome  de  Las  Casas,  bishop  of  Ciudad  Real 
de  Chiapa,  at  the  request  of  the  council  of 
the  Indies  on  the  subject  of  Indian  slavery. 
It  contains  many  arguments,  and  the 
authorities  of  many  jurisconsults,  which 
may  prove  useful  to  the  reader  in  deciding 
many  doubtful  cases  of  restitution  and 
other  moral  matters  so  much  debated  at  the 
present  time." 

The  argument  or  preface  of  this  work 
tells  us  plainly,  not  only  that  he  had  not 


540    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

given  up  tlie  fight  in  behalf  of  the  Indians, 
becau.se  Charles  V.  had  been  compelled  by 
untoward  circumstances  to  yield  to  the 
clamor  and  threats  of  the  American  slave 
owners,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  the 
bishop  of  Chiapa,  on  his  arrival  in  Spain 
gave  no  rest  to  his  Majesty's  councillors,  in 
his  efforts  to  benefit  the  American  natives. 
"Argumento  (preface)  to  the  following 
treaty.  The  bishop  of  Ciudad  Real  de 
Chiapa,  Fray  Bartolome  de  L,as  Casas,  was 
pressing  persistently  the  royal  council  of 
the  Indies  to  consider  the  liberty  of  the  In 
dians  as  the  only  general  remedy  for  the 
Indies  ;  and  one  of  his  petitions  was,  that 
the  Indians  held  by  the  Spaniards  as  legal 
slaves,  should  all  be  given  their  freedom, 
arguing  that  out  of  their  countless  number 
not  one  had  been  enslaved  justly,  but  that, 
on  the  contrary,  all  had  been  enslaved  un 
justly  and  iniquitously.  The  council  hav 
ing  decided  to  set  aside  their  other  num 
berless  occupations,  and  to  take  up  this 
subject,  charged  and  commissioned  the 
said  bishop  to  put  in  writing  his  opinions 
on  the  matter.  In  virtue  of  said  royal 
commission  and  command  the  following 
proposition  with  its  three  corollaries,  which 
like  three  branches  of  one  tree,  are  the 
necessary  consequences  of  its  truth,  has 


Life  oj  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    541 

been  established  and  proved.  Herein  is 
demonstrated  with  what  justice  the  Indians 
of  that  New  World  could  have  been  and 
were  enslaved,  and  that  their  masters  are 
bound  to  restitution." 

Neither  this  treaty,  of  which  the  fore 
going  title  and  preface  clearly  indicate  the 
nature  of  its  contents  and  the  reasons  for 
writing  it,  or  the  Tratado  Comprobatorio 
give  us  the  total  product  of  L,as  Casas' 
literary  activity  during  the  years  1548  and 


Between  his  arrival  in  Spain  and  the 
resignation  of  his  bishopric,  L,as  Casas 
wrote  yet  another  treaty,  the  contents  of 
which  it  would  be  superfluous  to  examine. 
All  his  works,  the  Historia  de  Las  Indias 
not  excepted,  have  for  their  ultimate  ob 
ject  the  defense  of  the  Indians.  It  will  be 
enough  to  give  the  title  and  the  preface 
which  will  tell  us  the  why  and  the  how  it 
happened  to  be  written. 

"The  Right  Reverend  Don  Fray  Barto- 
lome  de  L,as  Casas,  bishop  of  Chiapa,  made 
answer  to  the  twelve  questions  propounded 
in  this  treaty,  concerning  the  spiritual  wel 
fare  of  the  kings  of  Castile  and  L,eon,  and 
the  Spaniards,  who  now  reside  or  will  re 
side  in  the  Indies,  and  concerning  the  good 
government,  preservation  and  eternal  sal- 


542    Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

vation  of  the  Indians ;  in  order  that  our 
lyord  and  His  Holy  name  be  forever  praised, 
and  His  Holy  Catholic  faith  be  spread  more 
and  more,  extolled  and  practiced  in  saecula 
saeculorum.  Amen." 

Preface.  "A  Friar  of  the  order  of  Saint 
Dominic,  virtuous,  learned  and  zealous  of 
the  Christian  religion  went  to  the  Indies  to 
engage  in  the  evangelization  of  the  natives. 
There  he  preached  the  gospel  for  some 
years  very  successfully,  during  which  he 
was  an  eye-witness  to  the  oppression  and 
slavery,  of  which  the  aborigines  were  the 
victims.  Meanwhile  he  studied  and  learned 
the  methods,  by  which  those  people  had 
been  subjugated  by  the  Spaniards,  not 
omitting  to  examine  the  causes,  if  any 
there  had  been,  of  the  wars  that  had  ended 
in  conquest.  Astounded  at  last  to  see  his 
countrymen  in  all  walks  of  life  ignorant  of, 
and  indifferent  to  the  danger,  in  which 
they  lived  of  their  salvation,  especially  the 
prelates  and  members  of  religious  orders, 
who  more  than  others  are  bound,  the 
former  by  their  pastoral  office,  and  the 
latter  by  their  religious  profession,  to 
watch,  to  inquire,  to  learn  and  to  proclaim 
the  truth  ;  he  reduced  to  writing  the  fol 
lowing  doubts,  which  are  not  easy  to  solve. 
Then,  impelled  by  a  worthy  desire  of  being 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    543 

useful  both  to  the  Indians,  who  suffer  the 
wrongs,  and  to  the  Spaniards,  who  inflict 
them,  he  travelled  hither  to  submit  the 
doubtful  propositions  to  the  learned  men 
composing  the  different  faculties,  in  order 
to  elicit,  if  possible,  a  uniform  decision  in 
support  of  the  truth.  He  first  proposed  his 
.doubts  to  the  aforementioned  bishop  of 
Chiapa,  Don  Fray  Bartolome  de  L,as  Casas 
of  the  order  of  St.  Dominic,  who  was 
known  to  have  studied  these  matters  pro 
foundly,  and  for  many  years.  The  said 
bishop  gave  an  answer  to  each  of  the 
twelve  doubts  in  the  following  treaty. M 

That  same  restless  and  inexhaustible 
energy,  which,  from  the  time  he  had  seen 
the  light  of  truth  concerning  the  American 
aborigines  while  preparing  in  Cuba  his 
memorable  sermon  for  Pentecost  Sunday  of 
the  year  1514,  had  sustained  him  in 
crossing  and  recrossing  oceans  and  con 
tinents  in  behalf  of  his  Indians  for  well 
nigh  thirty-five  years,  now,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-five,  enabled  the  first  American 
priest  to  sit  at  his  desk  for  whole  days  and 
nights  writing  innumerable  letters,  memor 
ials,  speeches  and  treaties  in  defense  of  his 
faraway  children  of  America.  His  con 
stitution  must  have  been  cast  in  steel.  For 
neither  his  dozen  trips  across  the  Atlantic 


544    Life  ofBartolome  de  Las  Casas. 

or  the  thousand  upon  thousands  of  miles 
travelled  on  foot  or  on  horseback,  or  the 
enervating,  fever-laden  climate  of  the 
tropics  had  clouded  his  mind  or  broken 
down  his  body.  We  have  seen  him  brave 
the  ruffianly  anger  of  the  conquistadoresin 
Chiapa,  then  by  his  learning,  his  eloquence 
and  his  virtues  align  the  wavering  prelates 
of  New  Spain  on  the  side  of  justice  and 
truth.  But  the  inspired  words  that  the 
life  of  man  upon  earth  is  a  warfare  seem  to 
apply  to  the  first  American  priest  more 
forcibly  than  to  any  other  of  his  contem 
poraries.  Scarcely  had  he  set  foot  on  his 
native  country,  when  he  was  forced  to 
begin  another  .mighty  battle.  I  refer  to 
his  controversy  with  the  celebrated  scholar, 
canonist,  and  theologian,  Gines  de  Sepul- 
veda. 

In  the  mastership  of  Cicero's  tongue 
Sepulveda  had  no  superiors,  perhaps  not 
an  equal  in  Spain,  and  in  point  of  learning 
and  dialectical  powers,  he  ranked  with 
such  men  as  Melchor  Cano,  Victoria,  Soto, 
and  others  of  that  brilliant  galaxy  of  Spanish 
divines,  who  sat  in  the  council  of  Trent. 
As  early  as  1533  Sepulveda  had  published 
in  Rome  a  book  entitled  Democrates,  or 
De  Convenientia  Disciplinae  Militaris  cum 
Christiana  Religione;  English:  "On  the 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    545 

compatibility  of  the  military  profession 
with  the  Christian  religion."  By  the  year 
1547  he  had  become  official  chronicler  to 
his  majesty,  a  sort  of  sinecure  office  com 
manding  a  fat  salary,  and  entitling  the 
holder  to  the  privileges  of  a  courtier.  In 
his  leisure  hours  the  popular  and  accom 
plished  ecclesiastic  continued  histheologico- 
juridical  studies,  and,  at  the  time  of  Las 
Casas'  arrival  from  America,  he  was 
maneuvering  to  obtain  permission  to  print 
a  second  work  of  his  entitled  Democrates 
Alter,  sen  De  Jiistis  Belli  Causis  Apud 
Indos ;  i.  e.  u Democrates  II.  or  of  the  just 
causes  for  waging  wars  against  the  In 
dians." 

The  manuscript  was  evidently  being 
examined  by  the  council,  when  it  fell  in 
the  hands  of  the  Protector  of  the  Indians, 
who  decided  to  answer  it  in  a  work  which 
he  called  Apologia.  Its  descriptive  title 
will  tell  us  again  the  nature  of  its  contents, 
and  the  preface  its  origin. 

u  Herein  is  contained  a  dispute  or  contro 
versy  between  Fray  Bartolome  de  L,as 
Casas,  bishop  of  Chiapa  in  New  Spain  of 
the  Indies,  and  Doctor  Gines  de  Sepulveda, 
chronicler  to  his  majesty,  the  emperor. 
The  doctor's  thesis  is  that  the  conquests 
made  in  the  Indies  against  the  Indians  are 
35 


54 6    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

lawful,  while  tlie  bishop,  on  the  contrary, 
holds  it  to  be  impossible  that  said  conquests 
be  not  tyrannical,  unjust  and  iniquitous. 
The  question  was  debated  in  the  presence 
of  many  learned  men,  jurisconsults  and 
theologians,  in  a  junta  called  together  by 
order  of  his  majesty  in  the  city  of  Valladolid 
the  year  1550." 

The  preface  or  argumento  said  :  "Doctor 
Sepulveda  the  chronicler  of  the  emperor, 
and  an  elegant  Latinist,  on  the  information 
and  at  the  instigation  of  some  of  those 
Spaniards,  who  were  most  to  blame  for  the 
cruelties  and  massacres  perpetrated  in  the 
Indies,  wrote  a  book  in  faultless  Latin,  ad 
vocating  two  propositions.  The  -first  of 
them  was,  that  .the  wars  heretofore  waged 
by  the  Spaniards  against  the  Indians  had 
been  waged  for  just  causes,  and  that,  the 
same  causes  recurring  again,  more  wars 
should  be  fought  against  them.  The  second 
says,  that  the  Indians  must  submit  to  the 
Spaniards,  as  the  less  wise  must  submit  to 
the  wiser  ;  and  that  should  the  Indians  re 
fuse  to  do  so,  war  could  be  made  against 
them.  These  are  the  two  causes  of  the  de 
struction  and  death  of  numberless  people, 
and  of  the  depopulation  of  more  than  one 
thousand  leagues  of  territory  effected  in 
new  and  different  ways  by  the  Spaniards  in 


Life  0}  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    547 

tlie  Indies  during  what  they  are  pleased  to 
call  conquests,  and  by  their  Bncomiendas, 
known  by  another  name  as  Repartimientos. 
Doctor  Sepulveda  assigned  as  a  reason  for 
his  treaty  his  desire  and  intention  to  defend 
the  title  by  which  the  kings  of  Castile  claim 
and  exercise  supreme  and  universal  power 
over  the  Indies.  But  this  was  but  a  pretext ; 
his  intention  being  to  propagate  in  these 
and  in  the  kingdoms  of  the  new  world  his 
damnable  doctrines.  The  doctor  presented 
his  book  to  the  council  of  the  Indies,  beg 
ging  with  great  persistency  that  leave 
might  be  granted  him  to  print  it.  It  was 
denied  several  times,  on  account  of  the 
harm  and  scandal,  which  his  work  would 
cause  beyond  any  doubt.  Seeing  that  he 
could  not  prevail  with  the  council  of  the 
Indies,  he  managed,  through  his  friends  at 
court,  to  obtain  a  decree  from  the  emperor 
empowering  the  council  of  Castile  to  deal 
with  the  matter,  who  knew  nothing  of  the 
affairs  of  the  Indies.  That  decree  reached 
Aranda  de  Duero,  where  the  court  was 
sitting  during  the  year  1547  just  at  the 
time,  when  the  bishop  of  Chiapa,  Fray 
Bartolome  de  L,as  Casas  arrived  from  the 
Indies.  Having  heard  of  the  book  and 
learned  its  contents,  and  knowing  the  great 
harm  that  its  publication  would  cause,  the 


548    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

said  bishop  opposed  it  with  all  his  might, 
exposing  its  poisonous  doctrines,  and  the 
real  reasons  why  it  had  been  written.  As 
the  matters  treated  were  mostly  theologi 
cal  the  members  of  the  royal  council  of 
Castile,  like  the  wise  and  righteous  gentle 
men  that  they  were,  decided  to  send  the 
book  to  the  universities  of  Salamanca  and 
Alcala  to  have  it  examined  and  approved, 
if  it  was  to  be  printed.  After  having 
scrutinized  and  carefully  debated  the  sub 
ject-matters  of  the  work,  the  universities 
decided  that  it  should  not  be  published, 
inasmuch  as  it  contained  unsound  doctrines. 
Not  satisfied,  but  rather  complaining 
of  the  decision  of  the  universities,  the 
doctor,  notwithstanding  his  having  been 
several  times  repulsed  by  the  two  councils, 
sent  his  treaty  to  Rome,  to  have -it  printed, 
not  however  in  its  original  form,  but  in 
the  shape  of  an  apologetical  address  to  the 
bishop  of  Segovia,  who,  friends  as  they 
were,  after  having  read  the  work,  had 
written  him  a  letter  containing  a  fraternal 
correction.  The  emperor,  having  heard 
of  the  publication,  gave  order  that  all 
copies  of  it  be  confiscated,  as  was  done 
throughout  Castile.  And  inasmuch  as  the 
doctor  had  made  a  compendium  of  it  in  the 
Spanish  language,  in  order  to  make  it  more 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    549 

accessible  to  the  common  people,  and  to  all 
those,  who  did  not  know  Latin,  the  bishop 
of  Chiapa  made  tip  his  mind  to  write  also 
in  the  vernacular  an  Apologia  in  defense  of 
the  Indians,  and  against  the  compendium 
of  the  doctor,  attacking  and  demolishing 
his  arguments,  answering  his  objections, 
and  warning,  at  the  same  time,  the  people 
of  the  dangers,  scandals  and  other  evils  that 
his  doctrines  would  cause.  Many  things 
had  happened  after  all  that  has  been  said, 
when  the  emperor  last  year,  1550,  thought 
proper  to  call  together  in  the  council  of  the 
Indies  quite  a  number  of  learned  men, 
theologians  and  jurists,  to  discuss  and  de 
cide,  if  the  wars  known  as  conquests,  could 
lawfully  and  salva  justitia,  be  waged 
against  the  Indians,  when  they  are  guilty 
of  no  other  crime  than  that  of  being  pagans. 
Doctor  Sepulveda,  who  was  invited  to 
give  his  opinions  on  the  subjects,  attended 
the  first  meeting  of  the  junta,  and  spoke  as 
long  as  he  wished.  Then  the  bishop  was 
called ;  and  he  read  for  five  consecutive 
days  out  of  his  Apologia,  exhausting  the 
work.  *)  As  this  was  very  long,  the  mem- 

*)  I  give  in  this  note  the  first  paragraph  of 
Apologia  as  a  specimen  of  the  latiuity  of  the  first 
American  priest. 

"Anno  a  partu  virginis  millesimo  quingentesimo 
quadragesitno  secundo,  Carolus,  Caesar  Hispaniarum 


550'  Life  ofBartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

bers  of  the  junta,  who  were  fourteen  in  all, 
requested  the  eminent  professor  of  theology, 
Father  Domingo  de  Soto,  who  was  himself 
a  committee  man,  to  epitomize  it,  and  to 
make  a  copy  of  the  compendium  for  each 
of  the  other  thirteen  gentlemen,  in  order 
that  they  could  study  it  at  leisure,  and  then 
vote,  at  a  future  sitting,  each  one  according 
to  the  lights  that  God  would  give  him. 
Doctor  Sepulveda  asked  to  be  furnished 
with  a  copy  of  De  Soto's  compendium,  to 
answer  it.  He  reduced  the  compendium  to 
twelve  heads,  propositions  or  theses,  to 
which  he  gave  twelve  answers.  To  the 

rex  sempiterna  hominum  memoria  dignus,  edoctus 
Hispauos,  caedibus,  violentia,  tyrannide  longe  la- 
teque  grassari  per  Indias,  servitute  premere  rnaxi- 
misqueincommodis  afficerelndosOceani  maris  acco- 
las,  qui  Roman!  Pontificis  decretp  ad  imperium 
supremum  Castiliaeet  Legionis  pertinent,  solemnem 
quoddain  concilium  Piutiae  sive  Valisoleti  indixit, 
advocato  ex  omni  senatu  lectissimo  ac  doctissimo. 
His  injunxit  ut  cognoscerent  an  atrociailla,  quae  ad 
se  delata  fuissent,  vera  essent,  utque  opportune  re- 
medium  excogitarent,  quo  tantis  malis  obviam  ire- 
tur,  ita  ut  Indi"  pristinae  libertati  restituerentur, 
simulque  uovus  ille  orbis  salutaribus  legibus,  ac  pru- 
dentibus  iustitutis  conipositus  in  posterum  guber- 
naretur.  De  hac  re  per  plures  dies  maguis  est  dis- 
putationibus  agitatum,  ac  denique  leges  quaedam 
sancitae  sunt,  quibus  Hispanorum  bellicae  ex- 
peditiones  adversus  Indos,  quas  conquistas  vulgo 
appellaverant,  prohibitae  sunt;  simulque  cautum 
est,  ut  Indi  omnes  servituti  pressi,  ab  eis,  quibus 
facta  divisione,  id  est  Repartimiento  si 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.   551 

doctor's  twelve  answers,  the  bisnop  made 
twelve  rejoinders.  This  is  what  gave  oc 
casion  to,  and  caused  the  treaty  herein  con 
tained  to  be  written." 

Las  Casas  was  sustained  by  the  com 
mission,  and  Sepulveda  never  saw  his 
Democrates  Alter  in  print. 

Why  did  Charles  V.  call  that  junta  to 
gether? 

Because  the  American  Indian  question 
had  divided  intellectual  and  political  Spain 
into  two  hostile  camps.  It  must  not  be 
supposed  that  the  controversy  had  been  car 
ried  on  by  Las  Casas  and  Sepulveda  alone. 

(inventione  quidam  sathanica  numquam  antehac 
audita),  adjudicati  perperam  fueraiit,  atque  in  regum 
Hispaniarum  ditionem  universalem  reducerentur, 
regibus  et  dominis  naturalibus  in  sua  potestate  et 
jurisdictione  remanentibus.  Haec  res  vehementer 
pupugit  Hispaniorum,  quibus  Indi  proeda  opima 
erant  et  quorum  facultates  violentiis,  rapinis  et  In- 
dorum  direptione  crescebant,  indignabundique  et 
irato  animo  deplorabant  a  Caesare  se  facultatibus 
propriis  spoliari,  ac  si,  nonpredones  sacrilega  poena, 
sed  legitimos  rerum  dominos  justa  rerum  posses- 
sione  deturbaret,  ut  nonnulli  nullum  non  lapidem 
moventes  quo  suis  rebus  cousulerint,  impudeuter  a 
Caesare  defecerint  adversus  Caesarem  rebellarint. 
Alii  ad  viros  doctrinae  opinione  claros  confugerunt, 
ut  solidis  juris  argumentis  caesareas  constitutioues 
opugnarent,  ut  tandem  Caeshr,  legum  iuiquitale  per- 
motus,  vel  aboleret  vel  saltern  su^penderet  earum 
observationem,  ut  in  aliquibus  earum  factum  est, 
non  quod  non  essent  equissimae  justissimaeque,  sed 
quod  cognita  rebellione  a  proditoribns  illis,  majus 
aliquod  malum  ac  atrocior  seditio  timeretur." 


552    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

They  were  only  the  two  generals  leading 
the  mighty  hosts  to  the  fray.  Thus  it  is 
known  that,  in  August  1548,  the  Domini 
cans  having  met  in  general  chapter  in  Cor 
dova,  the  most  learned  men  of  the  Order 
had  for  several  days  sharpened  their  scho 
lastic  wits  in  conferences  and  disputations, 
the  thesis  being  every  day  the  same : 
4 '  Utrum  barbaris  novi  orbis,  quos  Indos 
Rispana  consuetudo  vocat,  liceat  bellum 
inferre. ' ' 

As  these  things  were  going  on  in  Cordova, 
another  group  of  distinguished  theologians 
and  jurists  were  sitting  at  the  very  same 
time  at  Valladolid  discussing  the  self  same 
question.  The  two  leading  lights  of  this 
group  were  Sepulveda  himself  and  no  less 
a  theologian  than  the  then  renowned  Fran 
ciscan  Fray  Bernardino  de  Arevalo. 

The  Spanish  Conquistadores  had  for  fifty 
years  been  busy  waging  wars  against  the 
Indians,  and  the  western  continent  may 
well  be  said  to  have  been  turned  into  a  vast 
field  of  carnage.  If  not  the  Spanish  nation 
or  its  government,  Spaniards  were  on  trial, 
and  the  fourteen  committeemen  were  the 
jury.  The  evidence  was  all  in  and  they 
brought  in  the  verdict :  ' ( Guilty.1  ? 

What  parliament  or  committee  of  parlia 
ment  of  to-day  would  dare  convict  the 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Gas  as.    553 

nation  of  a  national  crime?  Perhaps  those 
friars,  theologians,  jurists  and  antiquarians 
were  not,  after  all,  the  useless  article  that 
many  a  modern  writer  would  have  us 
believe. 

Charles  V.  and  the  government  of  Spain 
must  have  by  this  time  realized  that  the 
venerable  Protector  of  the  Indians  was 
more  necessary  at  home  than  in  America. 
His  resignation  of  the  bishopric  of  Chiapa 
was  therefore  considered,  and  accepted, 
granting  him  at  the  same  time  the  privi 
lege  of  naming  his  own  successor.  In 
fact  the  letter  of  the  emperor,  dated  Sep 
tember  2nd,  1550,  which  instructed  his 
ambassador  at  Rome  to  place  in  the  hands 
of  the  Holy  Father  the  resignation  of  Las 
Casas,  presented  at  the  same  time  and 
recommended  Father  Thomas  Casilla,  the 
superior  of  the  Dominicans  then  working 
on  the  missions  of  the  province  of  Vera  Paz 
and  the  friend  of  Las  Casas,  to  the  vacant 
mitre. 

Amidst  his  literary  labors  and  contro 
versies  in  behalf  of  the  Indians,  Las  Casas 
did  not  forget  that  more  friars  were  needed 
in  Chiapa  to  instruct  the  natives  in  the  faith 
and  to  form  them  to  a  Christian  manner  of 
life.  Prince  Philip  had  kept  his  promise 
of  paying  their  travelling  expenses  to 


554    Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

America,  and  thirty,  some  Dominicans 
and  other  Franciscans,  were  ready  to  sail 
at  the  end  of  1551.  Las  Casas  accom 
panied  them  to  Seville  arriving  there  at 
the  beginning  of  January  1552.  A  fleet 
of  fifty-three  or  fifty-four  ships  were  to 
sail  together  accompanied  by  several  war 
vessels  to  protect  them  against  the  French 
corsairs  or  privateers,  which,  at  that  time, 
infested  the  Atlantic.  Las -Casas  was  com 
pelled  to  wait  for  ten  months  with  his 
friars  (half  of  whom  lost  patience  and 
returned  to  their  convents)  before  he  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  them  sail  for  the 
Indies.  In  a  letter  written  to  Prince  Philip 
October  25th,  1552,  he  denounces  in  un 
measured  and  angry  tones  the  jobbery 
and  abuses  in  the  Casa  de  Contratacioii 
which  had  caused  the  unreasonable  delay.  " 

"It  seems  to  me,"  he  says,  "that  God 
has  given  me  the  special  task  of  always 
having  to  weep  for  the  sorrows  of  others, 
which  however  do  not  weigh  lighter  on  me 
than  if  they  were  my  own  ....  It  is  a 
travesty  on  justice  and  truth  the  way  things 
go  here,  that  it  should  have  taken  ten 
months  to  load  and  get  ready  this  fleet,  and 
that  the  black  warships  destined  only  to 
fight,  especially  the  flagship,  should  have 
been  overloaded  to  satisfy  the  greed  of  the 


Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    555 

devil  and  of  his  brother  ....  It  is  a  pity 
to  behold  the  five  or  six  thousand  emigrants 
dying  of  hunger  hereabout,  waiting  for  the 
ships  to  sail  ....  To  tell  the  truth  I  have 
spent  (in  looking  after  the  friars)  more 
than  seven  hundred  ducats  since  I  came 
here  in  January  last.  I  am  bankrupt,  and 
don't  know  if  I  shall  have  money  enough 
to  take  me  back  to  court  ....  These 
large  ships  of  Don  Alvarado  (lie  must  have 
been  the  ship  owner,  the  devil's  brother) 
are  the  ruin  of  the  Indies,  and  they  should 
all  be  burned  up  so  that  not  a  splinter 
should  be  left  of  them." 

A  passage  of  this  letter  informs  us  that 
ecclesiastics  had  already  begun  to  cross  the 
Atlantic  for  unworthy  motives.  v 

"For  the  love  of  God,  let  your  Highness 
take  steps  to  inform  his  Majesty's  ambas 
sador  in  Rome  to  be  on  the  watch,  for 
truly  this  is  a  matter  of  great  importance. 
It  is  better  to  have  no  friars  at  all  in  the 
Indies,  than  such  friars ;  and  it  is  a  blun 
der  to  think  otherwise.  Devilish  reports 
are  now  coming  from  the  Indies  about  the 
Fathers  of  Mercy,  which,  in  time,  will 
reach  your  Highness. 

"Melius  est  enim  paucos  habere  bonos, 
quam  multos  ministros  malos,"  says  St. 
Clement. 


556    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

u Don't  let  your  Highness  forget  how 
much  I  have  insisted  before  the  council  of 
the  Indies  that  men  in  broadcloth  and  gen 
teel  loafers  be  not  allowed  to  go  to  the  In 
dies,  especially  to  Peru.  They  go  there  to 
live  on  the  labors  of  those  unfortunate  In 
dians.  ...  I  don't  know  when  this  blessed 
fleet  will  set  sails.  Glory  be  to  God,  and 
may  He  long  preserve  your  Highness  in 
His  holy  service.  Amen. 

Given  at  San  lyucar  de  Barrameda,  the 
25th  of  October,  1552. 

Fray  Bartolome  de  L,as  Casas,  bishop." 

No  doubt  having  to  look  after  a  lot  of 
friars  for  ten  months  to  see  them  safely  on 
board  their  ship  was  very  aggravating  to 
the  restless  ex-bishop  of  Chiapa.  But, 
after  all,  he  must  not  have  been  in  any 
great  hurry  to  leave  his  native  Seville,  of 
which  San  L,ucar  was  the  port.  For  we 
find  him  editing  there  no  less  than  eight  of 
his  works,  the  original  editions  of  which 
all  bear  dates  between  July  1552  and  Janu 
ary  1553.  The  press,  however,  of  other 
business  must  have  been  great ;  for  in 
order  to  finish  that  work,  in  as  short  a 
space  of  time  as  possible,  he  engaged  two 
printing  presses  at  the  same  time,  that  of 
the  Spaniard  Trujillo  and  the  one  belong 
ing  to  the  German  Cronberger. 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    557 

Seven  out  of  the  eight  works  have  been 
noticed  heretofore,  i.  e.: 

ist.     Brevisima   relacion. 

2d.  His  controversy  with  Doctor  Sepul- 
veda. 

3d.     The  confesionario. 

4th.     The  thirty  propositions,  etc. 

5th.     Tratado  comprobatorio. 

6th.     The  treaty  on  Indian  slavery. 

7th.  The  memorial  presented  to  the 
Valladolid  commission  in  1542,  who  enacted 
the  new  laws. 

The  8th,  of  which  nothing  has  yet  been 
said,  was  a  pamphlet  entitled  :  "Principia 
quaedam  ex  quibus  procedendum  est  in 
disputations  ad  manifestandam  et  defen- 
dendam  justitiam  Indorum."  Per  Kpis- 
copum  Bartolomeum  a  Casaus  O.  P. 

Internal  evidence  shows  it  to  have  been 
written  about  the  time  of  his  controversy 
with  Sepulveda.  ' 

These  however  do  not  represent,  by  any 
means,  the  sum  total  of  the  literary  pro 
ductions  of  the  first  American  priest  up  to 
the  year  1553.  In  fact,  though  it  is  not 
known  why,  the  treaty  De  Unico  Vocationis 
ModOy  already  reviewed,  never  was  printed 
during  L,as  Casas'  life. 

Perhaps  his  most  interesting  work  to  the 
sociologist  is  his  treaty  entitled  :  "Questio 


558    Life  oj  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas. 

de  imperatoria  potestate.  An  videlicet 
reges  vel  principes  jure  aliquo  vel  titulo,  et 
salva  conscientia,  cives  ac  subditos  suos  a 
regia  corona  et  alterius  domini  particularis 
ditioni  subjicere  possint." 

I  will  translate  the  review  of  this  work 
by  Antonio  Fabie. 

uThe  pamphlet  is  divided  into  thirty- 
seven  paragraphs,  and  is  written  in  the 
scholastical  style  of  that  period,  with 
numberless  quotations  of  authorities  ad 
duced  in  support  of  the  doctrines  upheld, 
which  are  nothing  more  than  deductions  or 
corollaries  flowing  from  the  principles  of 
St.  Thomas  Aquinas  on  so  important  a 
subject-matter.  The  titles  of  the  different 
paragraphs  will  give  a  sufficient  idea  of  the 
teachings  of  I^as  Casas. 

ist  Paragraph.  The  natural  liberty  of 
man. 

2nd.  The  original  right  of  man  to  take 
possessions  of  created  things. 

3rd.  The  rights  which  kings  have  to 
the  property  of  individuals. 

Las  Casas  denies  that  kings  have  any 
such  right,  and  opposes  the  doctrine  of 
eminent  domain  (not  however  the  right  of 
expropriation  for  the  public  weal,  and  with 
compensation)  advocated  by  Hostiense,  of 
whom  he  says:  "If  he  means  to  uphold 


ILije  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    559 

the  doctrine  that  a  sovereign  as  such,  has 
the  right  to  dispose  of  the  private  property 
of  his  subjects,  he  has  fallen  into  a  serious 
error,  which  is  opposed  to  the  common 
opinion  of  the  doctors. ' '  Modern  individu 
alistic  schools  go  no  farther  in  advocating 
the  absolute  right  of  individuals  to  property. 
In  the  same  paragraph  Las  Casas  combats 
another  error  of  the  bishop  of  Ostia,  De 
Duce,  on  which  those,  who  held  that  the 
monarchs  of  Castile  were  absolute  lords  of 
the  Indies,  having  power  to  dispose  of  lands 
and  all  apurtenances  thereof,  based  their 
opinion.  Hostiense  taught  that  the  coming 
of  the  Messiah  had  the  juridical  effect  of 
depriving  of  the  individual's  right  to 
property  all  those,  who  did  not  recognize 
him  as  such,  and  refused  to  embrace  his 
doctrines.  That  error,  says  Las  Casas,  is 
a  most  pernicious  one,  because  it  contra 
dicts  Holy  Writ,  the  Holy  Fathers,  and  the 
traditions  of  the  Church.  It  opens  the 
doors  to  a  thousand  thefts,  to  unjust  wars, 
to  numberless  homicides  and  to  all  manner 
of  crimes.  It  has  been  proved,  says  Las 
Casas,  that  Hostiense 's  proposition  is  here 
tical. 

4th.  In  this  paragraph,  which  is  called 
constitutional  compact  about  taxation,  Las 
Casas  sustains  that  rulers  have  not  the  right 
to  tax  their  subjects  without  their  consent. 


560   Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

5th.  Under  tlie  heading  of  limitation 
of  royal  jurisdiction,  L,as  Casas  teaches, 
that  the  power  of  rulers  cannot  be  arbitrary, 
and  that  it  is  limited  to  the  execution  of 
the  laws. 

6th.  The  duties  of  one  city  to  the  others 
within  the  same  kingdom. 

7th.  Duties  of  one  kingdom  to  other 
kingdoms. 

8th.  L,aws  injurious  to  the  common 
weal  are  null  and  void. 

This  is  a  radical  doctrine  ;  and  from  it  to 
that  other  one,  which  advocates  the  right 
of  insurrection,  there  is  but  one  easy  step, 
which  many  contemporary  writers  had  al 
ready  taken. 

Qth.  This  paragraph  which  is  a  con 
sequence  of  the  8th  is  entitled :  Kings  are 
amenable  to  the  laws. 

loth.  Gives  the  proofs  of  paragraph  2d 
and  an  abundance  of  references  and  author 
ities  to  support  them. 

nth.  Kings  have  no  right  to  dispose  of 
properties  belonging  to  the  people. 

1 2th  and  I3th.  Kings  have  no  right  to 
dispose  of  their  sovereignty  over  the  people. 

1 4th,  1 5th  and  i6th  prove  that  kings 
have  no  right  to  sell  public  offices. 

1 7th.  Kings  have  no  right  to  dispose 
of  the  national  domain. 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    561 

1 8th.  It  is  not  lawful  to  grant  ex 
emption  from  taxation. 

1 9th.  -  Defends  the  now  universally  ac 
cepted  doctrine  that  lucrative  public  offices 
must  be  given  gratis,  according  to  the 
abilities  and  merits  of  the  applicants. 

20th.  Treats  of  the  properties  of  the 
crown. 

2ist.     Of  the  properties  of  individuals. 

2 2nd  and  23rd.  Teach  that  kings  cannot 
dispose  of  their  kingdoms,  in  whole,  or  in 
part  without  the  consent  of  the  nation. 

24th  and  25th  declare  fiefs  to  be  un 
lawful. 

The  remaining  paragraphs  are  answers 
to  objections  raised  against  the  foregoing 
doctrines." 

I  may  add  that  I^as  Casas'  principles 
imply  that  there  can  be  no  government 
without  the  consent  of  the  governed. 

If  the  French  revolutionists  thought  of 
having  discovered  some  new  political  prin 
ciple,  they  were  evidently  mistaken  ;  and  if 
one  reads  over  carefully  the  Questio  De 
Imperatoria  Potestate  along  with  the  con-  • 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  he  might  be 
tempted  to  believe  that  the  framers  of  the 
latter  had  taken  the  former  for  their 
model.  The  only  substantial  difference 
between  the  two  documents  consists  in 
36 


562    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

this,  that  L,as  Casas'  pamphlet  calls  the 
supreme  magistrate  of  a  nation  a  king  or 
an  emperor,  who  rules  (with  the  consent  of 
the  people)  during  his  life  time,  whereas 
the  constitution  speaks  of  a  president  to  be 
elected  every  four  years.  Indeed  the  first 
American  priest  seems  to  be  unwilling  to 
confer  on  kings  as  much  power  as  the 
supreme  law  of  this  republic  grants  to  its 
chief  executive. 

How  delighted  would  he  not  be  to  see, 
after  the  lapse  of  three  and  a  half  centuries, 
his  principles  prevailing  (in  theory)  from 
one  end  to  the  other  of  this  continent? 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  why  Las 
Casas  did  not  publish  this  work  with  the 
others  printed  in  Seville  in  1552.  Perhaps 
it  was  because  his  advanced  ideas  would 
have  gotten  him  in  trouble  an<J  landed  him 
where  he  could  do  no  more  good  to  his  In 
dians.  In  fact,  for  preaching  to  some 
soldiers  not  to  obey  their  officers  when 
commanded  to  engage  in  a  war  against  the 
Indians,  that  was  plainly  unjust,  he  had 
been  criminally  prosecuted  in  Nicaragua, 
during  the  years  1535  and  1536.  Again, 
when  his  confesionario  first  appeared  in 
Mexico,  and  then  in  Spain,  it  gave  umbrage 
to  Charles  V. ,  who  called  upon  him  for  an 
explanation  of  his  doctrines.  It  then  re- 


Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    563 

quired  all  the  ingenuity  of  an  expert  dia 
lectician  as  he  was,  to  allay  the  emperor's 
fears  and  to  satisfy  him  that  his  title  to  the 
Indies  was  not  really  attacked  by  the  con- 
fesionario.  What  would  have  happened 
if  the  blunt  and  radical  ideas  of  the  Questio 
De  Imperatoria  Potestate  should  have  been 
published  at  a  time,  when  his  antagonist 
Sepulveda  had  already  accused  him  of 
printing  another  of  his  works  surreptitious 
ly?  I  am  supported  in  this  surmise  by  the 
fact  that  the  Dominicans,  who  inherited 
his  manuscripts  and  most  of  his  ideas,  five 
years  after  the  bishop's  death,  gave  the 
Questio  De  Imperatoria  Potestate  to  the 
German  ambassador,  who  had  it  published 
in  Spire  in  1571. 

Las  Casas'  time,  after  his  return  from 
Seville  in  1553,  to  the  very,  hour  of  his 
death  was  spent  in  defence  of  the  Indians, 
mostly  by  means  of  literary  work.  From 
his  will  we  shall  see  how  he  kept  up  an 
active  correspondence  with  all  parts  of  the 
American  Spanish  possessions,  which  gave 
him  a  minute  knowledge  of  what  was  go 
ing  on  in  the  West  Indian  islands,  in  New 
Spain,  in  Central  and  South  America. 
This  correspondence  shows  that  the  ex- 
bishop  of  Chiapa  acted  constantly  as  the 
attorney  and  general  procurator  of  all  the 


564    Life  o/  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

Indians  at  the  court  of  Spain.  Did  he  hear 
of  some  new  outrage  of  the  Spaniards 
against  the  Indians  ?  A  memorial  would 
be  prepared  at  once,  and  presented  to  the 
emperor,  to  prince  Philip  or  to  the  Indian 
council,  denouncing  it  in  his  clear  cut, 
plainspoken  style,  with  which  the  reader 
has  now  grown  familiar. 

Owing  principally  to  the  importunities 
and  constant  forcible  remonstrations  of  Las 
Casas,  the  conditions  of  the  Indians  in 
Mexico  and  elsewhere  had  been  greatly 
improved.  Vast  numbers  of  them  had 
been  incorporated  in  the  crown  of  Castile, 
which  meant  that  they  were  like  other  free 
vassals,  subject  only  to  the  king.  As  late 
as  1560  it  had  not  yet  been  found  practi 
cable  to  carry  out  all  the  provisions  of  the 
new  laws.  But  as  nearly  as  it  is  now  pos 
sible  to  gather,  the  condition  of  the  Indi 
ans  of  an  Kncomienda  at  that  period,  was 
no  worse  than  that  of  the  serfs  of  feudal 
Europe.  In  most  places,  as  in  Guatemala 
and  Mexico,  the  duties  of  the  encomenda- 
dos  (the  Indians  of  an  Kncomienda)  were 
reduced  to  paying  to  the  encomendero  (the 
owner  of  an  Encomienda)  certain  tributes, 
by  a  fiction  of  law,  to  the  king,  but  in 
reality  to  the  master. 

While  the   operations   of  the  royal  or- 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    565 

dinances  coming  into  force  in  a  progressive 
ratio  with  the  establishment  of  law  and 
order  on  a  solid  basis,  yearly  increased  the 
number  of  free  Indians,  the  landlords  or 
encomenderos  availed  themselves  of  every 
conceivable  pretext  to  increase  the  number 
of  their  encomendados.  On  the  other  hand 
a  monastery  with  its  friars,  or  a  church 
with  its  clerigo  (secular  priest)  had  by  this 
time  been  erected  in  almost  every  pueblo 
in  Spanish  America,  and  the  friars  and 
clergy  in  general  had  become  the  natural 
defenders  of  the  people's  liberties.  The 
Indians,  guided  by  the  cross  towering  on 
every  church  steeple,  had  learned  where  to 
find  protection  from  the  exactions,  greed 
and  tyranny  of  the  encomenderos.  Hence 
interminable  law  suits,  that  soon  choked 
the  wheels  of  justice  in  the  courts.  On  the 
whole  the  law  officers,  the  clergy  and  pub 
lic  opinion  must  have  inclined  to  the  side 
of  liberty,  whenever  a  doubt  existed  as 
to  the  right  of  the  encomendero  to  claim 
the  services  or  tributes  of  the  Indians.  For 
the  landlords  found  it  to  their  interest  to 
ask  the  central  government  in  Spain  to 
take  a  new  census  of  all  the  natives,  in  or 
der  that  it  might  be  determined  officially, 
who  was,  and  who  was  not,  a  free  vassal  of 
the  king. 


566    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

By  this  means  stronger  shackles  would 
have  been  welded  on  numberless  aboriginal 
Americans,  and  L,as  Casas  opposed  the 
scheme  with  his  usual  energy  and  perti 
nacity.  A  memorial  was  presented  to 
prince  Philip,  the  opening  paragraph  of 
which  reads  as  follows: 

"Most  powerful  L,ord.  The  exbishop  of 
Chiapa  kisses  your  Highness'  hand  and 
begs  to  inform  you,  that  letters  from  New 
Spain  tell  me  how  all  the  Indians  are  made 
the  victims  of  renewed  oppression  and 
tyranny  ;  through  the  calumnies  and  machi 
nations  of  the  encomenderos,  who  do  not 
desist  from  sucking  their  blood." 

The  memorial  speaks  of  one  method 
(which  has  not  yet  become  antiquated  in 
our  own  days)  employed  by  the  rich,  influ 
ential  and  powerful  encomenderos  to  op 
press  the  Indians.  Did  these  claim  their 
liberty  or  a  reduction  of  their  tributes? 
Did  they  endeavor  to  resist  some  of  the  in 
tolerable  exactions  of  their  greedy  masters? 
Their  complaints  would  be  made  the  sub 
ject  of  interminable  law  suits,  and  of  ap 
peals  intended  to  starve  into  submission  the 
penniless  complainants. 

The  kings  of  Spain  had  at  all  times  re 
sisted  the  petitions  and  the  large  sums 
offered  by  the  Spaniards  in  America,  to 


Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas.    567 

liave  tlie  Kncomiendas  established  in  per 
petuity.  These  were  to  last  only  for  two 
generations,  and  on  the  death  of  the  Indi 
ans  of  an  Encomienda  and  of  their  chil 
dren,  their  descendants  were  to  be  given 
absolute  freedom.  By  the  middle  of  the 
XVI.  century  this  mild  form  of  slavery 
was  beginning  to  be  extinguished,  and  the 
slave-owners  settled  on  a  new  plan  to  per 
petuate  it.  Philip  II.  had  gone  to  England 
to  celebrate  his  wedding  with  Mary,  his 
future  queen.  He  was  hard  pressed  for 
money,  and  a  deputation  of  Spanish  Amer 
icans  had  followed  him  with  a  bag  of  gold 
to  help  him  out  of  his  straits,  if  he  would 
but  consent  to  make  over  to  them  in  per 
petuity  their  Encomiendas.  The  offer  was 
tempting  and  it  seems  that  there  was  a 
time  when  Philip  vaccillated  between  ac 
cepting  it  and  rejecting  it.  Las  Casas 
came  to  the  rescue.  He  addressed  a  letter, 
not  to  the  king,  but  to  his  confessor,  Father 
Miranda,*)  in  which  are  summarized  very 

*)  He  was  a  Dominican,  professor  and  doctor  of 
theology,  who  resided  for  some  years  in  England. 
Later  he  became  archbishop  of  Toledo,  and  having 
been  suspected  of  heresy,  his  trial  by  the  courts  of 
the  inquisition  proved  the  most  famous  in  the  XVI. 
century.  Las  Casas  wrote  of  him,  during  the  trial, 
that  he  was  no  heretic  (el  qual  no  es  hereje}.  He 
was,  however,  convicted,  and  died  while  undergoing 
his  sentence  of  detention,  if  he  was  not  confined  in 
a  real  jail. 


568    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

forcibly  and  indeed  eloquently  the  argu 
ments  adduced  in  his  former  works  in  favor 
of  the  Indians,  and  the  litany  is  told  once 
more  of  the  wrongs  done  them  by  the 
Spaniards  in  America.  It  must  not  have 
been  intended  that  Philip  should  see  the 
letter,  for  the  kings  of  Spain  are  here 
plainly  made  to  assume  their  share  of 
responsibility  for  the  numberless  crimes 
committed  by  the  Spaniards  beyond  the 
Atlantic.  Indeed  it  is  noticeable  that, 
while  the  first  American  priest  in  his  ear 
lier  writings  invariably  charges  the  king's 
advisers  with  the  responsibility  of  mal 
administration  of  American  affairs,  and  ex 
onerates  the  monarchs,  in  his  old  age, 
that  is,  after  having  become  himself  their 
councillor,  and  after  having  detailed  to 
them  numberless  times  by  word  of  mouth 
and  in  writing  the  flagrant  abuses,  he 
makes  no  attempt  to  excuse  or  palliate 
their  want  of  energy  in  shielding  the  help 
lessness  of  the  American  natives  against 
the  rapacity  and  cruelty  of  their  oppres 
sors.  Nay,  in  more  than  one  of  his  latest 
writings  he  lets  his  conviction  transpire 
that  Spain,  as  a  nation,  would  yet  be  held 
responsible  to  God  for  its  tyrannical  rule  in 
the  New  World. 

I  will  make  but  two  short  excerpts  from 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    569 

the  long  letter,  which  appears  to  me  as  the 
most  finished  production  of  all  of  Las 
Casas'  works,  which  have  passed  through 
my  hands.  He  argues  that  in  Spain,  and 
not  in  England  or  Flanders,  should  the 
question  of  the  Encomiendas  be  decided. 

"It  is  now  sixty-one  years  since  those 
innocent  people  (the  Indians)  first  became 
the  victims  of  tyranny,  theft  and  oppres 
sion,  and'  forty  since  his  Majesty  began  to 
reign  in  Castile.  But  his  only  reforms 
were  the  patchwork,  which  was  applied 
no  sooner  than  since  I  came  to  break  the  spell, 
with  which  a  set  of  greedy,  self-interested 
tyrants,  surrounding  him,  kept  him  bound. 
Why  should  the  kings  of  Castile  hide 
themselves  away  in  a  corner  of  England  or 
Flanders  to  hurriedly  transact  a  business  of 
so  transcendental  importance  ?  If  it  be 
done  it  will  be  accounted  by  man  a  great 
mistake,  and  by  God  a  great  crime.  I  am 
as  certain  that  no  wise  decision  on  this 
matter  will  be  reached  in  England  or  in 
Flanders,  as  I  am  that  God,  the  infinite 
and  infallible  justice,  will  take  away  from 
the  kings  of  Castile  the  Indies  if  the 
opinion  of  councillors,  ignorant  alike  of  the 
interests  of  God  and  of  the  king,  prevail. 
For  it  is  written :  "Begnum  a  gente  in  gen- 
tern  transferetur  propter  injustitias  et  in- 
jurias  et  contumelias  et  diversos  doles." . 


570    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

The  letter  forms  a  pamphlet  of  about 
forty  octavo  pages,  and  was  written  in  an 
swer  to  one  from  Father  Caranza,  in  which 
the  latter  asked  seven  questions.  I'll 
translate  the  answer  of  Las  Casas  to  the 
seventh,  as  it  will  give  some  additional 
data  on  his  biography  and  a  closer  insight 
of  the  relations  then  existing  between  the 
civil  rulers  and  the  ecclesiastics  of  the 
time. 

Attached  to  the  office  of  an  every-day 
confessor  are  weighty  responsibilities,  even 
when  a  common  laborer  kneels  before  him 
to  unburden  his  conscience.  But  the  re 
sponsibility  of  the  confessor  of  an  absolute 
ruler  and  legislator,  as  the  mighty  Charles 
V.  was,  is,  under  one  aspect,  even  greater 
than  that  of  the  penitent  himself.  Who 
would  have  thought  that  the  renowned 
theologian  Pedro  de  Soto  should  have  made 
so  frightful  a  blunder  in  directing  his 
august  penitent,  as  to  cause  the  enslave 
ment  for  life  of  not  less  than  one  million 
of  human  beings,  because  he  neglected  to 
investigate  sufficiently  the  subject  of  the 
Kncomiendas. 

Las  Casas'  letter,  after  lying  hidden 
away  in  musty  Spanish  archives  for  more 
than  three  hundred  years,  came  forth  to 
inform  us  of  the  historical  fact.  It  shows 


Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    571 

us  also  that  several  other  letters  passed 
between  L,as  Casas  and  Caranza  until  a  de 
cision  was  reached  in  favor  of  the  Indians. 
"The  answer  to  the  seventh  and  last 
.question  of  your  reverence  follows  from 
what  has  already  been  said.  It  is  iniquitous 
and  diabolical,  and  contrary  to  all  law  and 
reason  to  grant  Repartimientos  of  any  kind 
either  in  perpetuity  or  for  a  limited  period 
of  time,  even  for  one  hour  ;  because  it  de 
prives  them  of  their  liberty,  and  the  Ca 
ciques  of  their  dominions It  is  like 

turning  the  Indians  over  to  lunatics  bran 
dishing  well  sharpened  knives.  Hence  the 
king  or  the  pope  has  no  more  power  than 
any  private  person  to  grant  Repartimien 
tos.  Your  Reverence  must  not  deceive 
yourself,  or  allow  the  king  to  be  deceived 
by  the  specious  argument  that,  by  not 
allowing  the  encomenderos  to  exercise 
either  criminal  or  civil  jurisdiction  over  the 
Indians,  these  will  be  sufficiently  protected. 
This  was  the  trap  in  which  the  emperor 
and  his  confessor,  Father  Pedro  de  Soto, 
fell,  when  they  listened  to  the  salaried  pro 
curators  of  the  tyrants  of  Mexico,  who, 
after  having  been  thrice  repulsed,  repre 
sented  to  the  confessor  that  really  they 
asked  for  nothing  substantial  as  long  as 
they  did  not  ask  for  either  civil  or  criminal 


572    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

jurisdiction  over  trie  Indians ;  as  if  they 
had  ever  exercised  it,  or  as  if  they  needed 
it  to  encompass  their  destruction.  In  this 
way  they  succeeded  to  annul  the  laws  for 
bidding  the  Kncomiendas  of  the  Indians  to 

their  children For  charity's  sake, 

don't  let  your  Reverence  be  deceived  into 
paying  any  attention  to  the  provisions, 
laws  and  penalties,  with  which  it  is  pre 
tended  to  safeguard  the  protection  of  the 
Indians.  They  are  inventions  of  the  devil 
and  of  his  ministers,  to  deceive  and  blind 
fold  the  simple  ones  of  this  world,  and 
hide  the  deadly  poison  of  the  Repartimien- 
tos  and  of  the  infernal  Bncomiendas. 

Should  your  reverence  or  the  king  wish 
*me  to  prove  the  different  propositions  ad 
vanced  in  this  letter,  I'll  do  it  to  your 
satisfaction,  by  the  divine,  the  natural, 
the  civil  and  the  canon  law.  As  far  as 
the  facts  are  concerned,  it  will  not  be 
difficult  to  adduce  thousands  of  proofs, 
out  of  the  archives  of  the  Indian  council. 
Promising  to  answer  your  other  questions 
in  a  separate  letter,  I  put  an  end  to  this 
during  the  present  month  of  August,  1555. ' ' 

Of  all  the  works  of  L,as  Casas  (except 
the  new  laws  which  are,  at  least  in  part, 
the  product  of  his  brains  and  of  his  energy) 
none,  in  my  opinion,  had  as  important 


Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    573 

results  as  this  letter  addressed  to  Father 
Caranza,  the  contents  of  which  were  in 
tended  for  the  conscience  of  Philip  II., 
if  not  for  his  eyes.  Had  not  its  argu 
ments  and  its  pleadings  prevailed,  the 
western  continent  might  have  become  again 
a  vast  slave  market. 

The  first  attempt  to  bribe  the  Spanish 
monarchs  into  selling  the  liberty  of  their 
subjects,  had  been  made  by  the  Encomen- 
deros  of  Mexico.  A  few  years  later  those 
of  Peru,  which  then  comprised  the  present 
republics  of  Ecuador,  Peru,  Chili,  Argen 
tina,  Paraguay,  Uruguay,  Bolivia  and  the 
three  Guianas,  proffered  large  sums  once 
more  to  Philip  II.  as  a  price  for  the  per 
petuity  of  the  Encomiendas.  It  is  pleas 
ing  to  learn  that  before  the  death  of  Las 
Casas  many  Caciques  and  their  Indians 
of  South  America  were  already  free  from 
the  serfdom  of  the  Encomienda,  either 
because  they  had  always  been  the  free 
vassals  of  the  king,  or  had  become  free 
men  by  the  operation  of  the  new  laws. 

The  provincial  of  the  Dominicans  in 
Peru,  on  hearing  that  a  deputation  of 
vSpaniards  had  gone  to  Spain  with  another 
bag  of  gold  to  buy  the  perpetuity  of  their 
Encomiendas,  managed  to  have  himself 
and  L,as  Casas  (whoni  every  chief  con- 


574   Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

sidered  his  friend  and  father)  appointed 
by  the  Caciques  as  their  legal  attorneys 
and  procurators.  The  friar  then  travelled 
to  Spain  and  in  the  company  of  L,as  Casas 
presented  a  memorial,  not  in  the  style  of 
officious  suppliants,  but  of  business  men, 
who  were  empowered  to  bid  a  higher  sum 
for  the  liberty  of  their  clients,  than  the 
masters  had  offered  for  their  enslavement. 
It  begins  as  follows  : 

uWe,  Don  Fray  Bartolome  de  L,as  Casas, 
bishop,  and  Doctor  Domingo  de  Santo 
Thomas,  provincial  of  the  Order  of  friars 
preachers  in  the  provinces  of  Peru  etc." 

The  Caciques  in  substance,  through  their 
procurators,  promised  to  pay  for  their 
liberty  $100,000  more,  than  the  Spaniards 
had  offered  to  keep  them  in  bondage. 
And  should  a  bid  be  made,  the  document 
says,  by  the  Spaniards  higher  than  the 
Indians  were  able  to  pay,  then  the  Ca 
ciques  guarantee  the  payment  of  #2,000,000 
in  four  yearly  installments  of  $500,000.  To 
the  honor  of  the  Spanish  crown,  be  it  said, 
neither  offer  was  accepted,  and  the  hated 
Kncomienclas  were  allowed  to  die,  in  the 
course  of  time,  a  natural  death. 

The  memorial  bears  no  date,  but  it 
must  have  been  written  not  later  than 
1560.  If  therefore  L,as  Casas  did  not  sue- 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    575 

ceed  in  setting  free,  during  his  life  time, 
all  of  his  beloved  Indians,  he  lived  long 
enough  to  see  most  of  them  enjoying  as 
large  a  degree  of  prosperity  and  legal 
rights  as  the  sums  mentioned  indicate. 

The  Protector  of  the  Indians  reached 
a  decrepid  old  age  in  the  full  possession 
of  his  mental  faculties  ;  and  his  marvellous 
activity  seems  to  have  grown  with  his 
years.  At  the  age  of  ninety,  he  was  un 
doubtedly  the  best  informed  man,  either  in 
Europe  or  in  America,  about  the  conditions 
political,  and  religious  of  the  new  world. 
No  ship  sailed  for  Spain  from  American 
ports  without  carrying  mail  for  the  ex- 
bishop  of  Chiapa,  and  perhaps  no  document 
reached  the  colonian  Indian  office  without 
passing  through  his  hand,  or  at  least  with 
out  his  knowing  the  substance  of  its  con 
tents.  His  love  for  his  American  children 
grew  into  a  holy  passion,  and  it  is  doubtful 
if  during  the  last  fifty  years  of  his  life  he 
spent  a  day  without  thinking  studying  and 
working  for  their  welfare. 

It  is  therefore  strange  to  be  told  by  his 
earliest  biographer,  that  Father  Ladrada, 
L,as  Casas  constant  companion  and  confessor 
for  upward  of  thirty  years,  should  have 
found  it  advisable  to  urge  the  Protector 
of  the  Indians  to  still  more  earnest  efforts 


576    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

in  their  belialf.  The  exbishop  of  Chiapa 
had  grown  partially  deaf  and  Ladrada, 
Remesal  assures  us,  was  overheard  more  than 
once  telling  his  penitent  aloud:  "Don't 
you  see,  bishop,  that  you  are  on  the  road 
to  hell,  because  you  do  not  defend  with 
sufficient  zeal  the  cause  of  the  poor  In 
dians,  whom  God  has  entrusted  to  your 
care?" 

The  explanation  of  it  all  is  to  be  found 
in  the  conviction  of  Las  Casas  himself,  that 
he  had  been  appointed,  almost  miraculous 
ly,  or  at  least  by  a  special  dispensation  of 
divine  providence  the  Protector  of  the  In 
dians.  His  confessor  shared  with  him  this 
conviction,  and  frequently  warned  his  peni 
tent  that  any  action  of  his.  not  consecrated 
to  the  fulfilment  of  his  mission  might  ap 
pear  sinful  in  the  sight  of  God. 

Something  more  remains  to  be  said  of 
the  historical  works  of  the  first  American 
priest.  He  fully  deserves  the  title,  which 
I  gave  him,  of  Father  of  American  history. 
His  father  was  one  of  the  principal  factors 
in  the  first  settlement  of  white  men  on 
American  soil  in  1493,  an(^  ^a^  resided  al 
most  continuously  in  Hispaniola,  when  Las 
Casas  landed  there  in  1502.  Through  the 
father,  the  son  became  acquainted  with 
Christopher  Columbus  and  his  two  brothers, 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    577 

Bartholomew  and  Diego,  and  later  enjoyed 
the  intimacy  of  his  two  sons,  Diego  and 
Fernando.  The  latter 's  famous  library 
was  deposited,  after  his  death,  in  St.  Paul's 
Dominican  convent  of  Seville,  in  which 
Las  Casas  spent,  at  different  times,  at  least 
two  years.  There  he  had  ample  opportuni 
ties  to  consult  and  copy  the  writings  of  Co 
lumbus  himself,  and  to  become  intimately 
acquainted  with  all  the  events  connected 
with  the  discovery  of  the  new  world.  That 
these  are  facts  can  be  gathered  from  the 
writings  of  L,as  Casas  himself. 

As  his  histories  go  no  further  than  the 
year  1521,  he  was  therefore  an  eye  witness 
of  many  of  the  most  important  events, 
about  which  he  writes,  and  his  other 
sources  of  information  were  invariably  the 
originals  of  the  writings  or  the  words  of 
those,  who  had  been  actors  in  the  historical 
drama.  Spanish  America  was  fortunate  in 
having  him  as  its  first  historian  as  no  other 
man  ever  was  as  well  fitted  for  the  task,  as 
Las  Casas.  His  honesty  of  purpose,  his 
sincerity  and  trustworthiness  as  to  facts, 
have  never  been  challenged,  although  his 
zeal  for  the  Indians  perhaps  betrayed  him 
at  times  into  exaggerating  the  number  and 
the  atrocities  of  Spanish  outrages  against 
the  aborigines. 
37 


578    Life  oj  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

He  wrote  but  one  history  which  he  called 
Historia  General  de  Las  Indias ,  to  which 
reference  has  frequently  been  made  as 
Historia  de  Las  Indias.  But  having  ended 
the  L/XVII.  chapter  of  his  work,  he  says  : 
"Here  was  to  have  its  place  the  history  and 
description  of  the  properties,  natural  ad 
vantages  and  geography  of  these  islands, 
especially  of  this  one  .(Hispaniola)  and  of 
the  other  countries  discovered  by  the  ad 
miral  (Columbus)  and  of  the  conditions, 
talents  and  natural  habits  of  the  natives. 
But  as  this  subject  requires  itself  a  large 
treaty  ....  it  is  my  intention  to  write  it 
in  a  separate  volume,  which  will  not  be  a 
small  one."  That  separate  volume  he 
called  Historia  Apologetica  de  Las  Indias. 
The  two  together  make  about  twenty-five 
hundred  octavo  pages  of  ordinary  print. 

The  style  is  at  times  that  of  a  familiar 
conversational  narrative,  rising  to  eloquence 
and  force  when  inveighing  against  the  op 
pressors  of  the  Indians.  It  is  not  always 
clear,  but  frequently  that  of  a  man  who 
endeavors  to  be  redundant,  while  trying  at 
the  same  time  to  press  into  one  period  as 
many  ideas  as  possible.  A  desire  to  be  cor 
rect  and  exact,  as  to  dates  and  facts,  is 
everywhere  evident,  and  the  salient  idea 
left  on  the  mind  after  wading  through  much 


Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    579 

matter,  which  appears  irrelevant  to  the 
modern  reader,  is  that  the  writer  cared  for 
nothing  more  than  to  record  correctly  for 
posterity  the  events  of  his  times  and  the 
impressions  created  by  them  on  his  own 
mind.  Constantly  recurring  invectives 
against  the  Spaniards  in  America,  and 
painting  their  almost  every  deed  in  the 
darkest  of  colors  in  order  to  gain  the 
reader's  sympathy  and  commiseration  for 
the  Indians,  together  with  a  superabundance 
of  religious  and  moral  reflections  make  the 
work  tiresome  reading  at  times.  Many  a 
chapter  might  be  mistaken  for  an  indict 
ment  against  the  wickedness  of  the  Span 
iards  or  a  plea  in  defense  of  the  Indians. 
History  needs  be  shifted  from  the  au 
thor's  polemics,  reflections,  invectives  and 
prayers ;  but  when  so  shifted  the  reader 
gets  possession  of  a  genuine  article.  It  is 
perhaps  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  more 
correct  information  can  be  gathered  about 
the  first  thirty  years  of  American  history 
from  the  works  of  lyas  Casas,  than  from  the 
combined  writing  of  all  his  contemporaries. 
Historia  General  de  L,as  Indias  remained 
unedited  until  about  twenty-five  years  ago, 
when  it  was  published  in  Spain  and  re- 
published  in  Mexico  in  1877.  On  the 
title  page  of  the  orginal  the  following,  in 


580    Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

the  handwriting  of  I/as  Casas  himself,  can 
be  read  : 

"I,  Fray  Bartolome  de  L,as  Casas,  ex- 
bishop  of  Chiapa,  bequeath  this  history  in 
trust  to  this  college  of  Saint  Gregory,  ask 
ing  and  begging  those  who  now  are  or  will 
be  rectors  or  regents  of  the  same,  not  to 
give  it  to  any  layman  to  read  inside  or  out 
side  of  said  college  for  the  space  of  forty 
years  beginning  with  January  ist  of  the 
incoming  year  1560,  and  I  hereby  make  it 
a  matter  of  conscience  for  them  to  comply 
with  this  request.  After  the  said  forty 
years,  should  it  appear  to  them  expedient 
for  the  good  of  the  Indians  and  of  Spain  to 
do  so,  they  may  have  it  printed  for  the 
glory  of  God  and  mainly  in  order  that  the 
truth  may  be  known.  It  does  not  even 
appear  advisable  that  all  collegians  be 
allowed  to  read  it,  but  only  the  most  dis 
creet,  in  order  that  it  be  not  published  be 
fore  the  proper  time.  There  is  no  good 
reason  for  publishing  it  now,  as  no  good 
would  come  of  it. 

Given  this  November,  1559. 

Deo  gratias 
Fray  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas. " 

There  is  abundant  internal  evidence  to 
prove  that  Historia  General  de  L,as  Indias 
was  in  the  author's  mind  soon  after  his 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    581 

novitiate  in  the  Dominican  convent  of 
San  Domingo,  and  that  the  gathering 
and  co-ordinating  of  materials  was  begun  in 
the  convent  of  La  Plata  in  1527  and  con 
tinued  to  the  last  years  of  his  life.  But 
inasmuch  as  we  find  largely  quoted  the  bio 
graphy  of  Columbus,  by  his  son  Fernando, 
which  was  published  in  1537,  and  inas 
much  as  in  the  second  chapter  of  the 
Historia  General  we  find  a  quotation  from 
the  Portugese  historian  Joan  de  Barros, 
whose  work  appeared  only  in  1552,  it  be 
comes  evident  that  the  compilation  and 
actual  writing  of  the  Historia  General  de 
Las  Indias,  as  we  have  it,  did  not  begin  be 
fore  the  last  mentioned  date.  It  was  most 
ly  in  the  convent  of  St.  Gregory  in  Valla- 
dolid  that  the  work  was  done  during  what 
leisure  hours  his  more  pressing  occupations 
in  behalf  of  the  Indians  left  him.  The 
first  book,  which  comprises  about  half  of 
the  work,  was  finished  in  1559,  when  the 
donation  of  it  in  trust  was  made  to  St. 
Gregory's  college.  The  third  and  last  book 
was  finished  in  1561  as  appears  from  its 
last  sentences:  "and  wish  to  God  that  to 
day,  which  is  the  year  1561  etc." 

Las  Casas  relating  the  cruelties  and 
crimes  of  the  Spaniards  in  America,  sup 
pressed  the  names  of  the  guilty  parties  in 


582    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

all  his  otlier  works,  in  order  not  to  defame 
them  in  their  own  or  during  their  children's 
lives  ;  but  in  the  Historia  names  are  given, 
and  not  unfrequently  biographical  sketches 
of  the  men,  who  caused  the  deaths  of 
thousands,  and  according  to  our  author,  of 
millions  of  American  natives.  Hence  his 
determination  that  this,  his  most  important 
work,  should  not  be  given  to  the  public  be 
fore  the  dawn  of  the  following  century. 

We  are  informed  in  the  introduction  that 
the  author's  intention  was  to  write  the 
history  of  America  up  to  the  year  1550. 
uMy  work  will  be  divided  in  six  parts  or 
books,  which  will  give  the  history  of  al 
most  sixty  years,  each  book  dealing  with 
the  events  of  ten  years,  except  the  first, 
which  will  count  only  eight,  because  the 
Indies  were  discovered  in  1492  etc."  I 
have  already  stated  that  not  improbably 
Las  Casas  wrote  more  of  his  Historia  General 
de  Las  Indias,  than  the  three  first  books  that 
end  with  the  year  1520. 

In  1562  Las  Casas  received  a  joint  letter 
from  the  Dominicans  working  on  the  mis 
sions  in  the  dioceses  of  Guatemala  and 
Chiapa.  The  good  Fathers  expressed  much 
satisfaction  in  telling  the  founder  of  their 
missions  how,  not  only  the  spiritual,  but  the 
material  conditions  as  well  of  their  Indians 


Life  of  Bartolomd  de  Las  Casas.    583 

had  improved.  According  to  their  views 
not  much  more  was  left  to  be  desired,  al 
though  the  Kncomiendas  had  not  yet  all 
been  abolished.  This  was  gratifying  evi 
dence  that  his  former  labors  in  those  parts 
had  not  been  in  vain,  but  that  on  the  con 
trary  they  had  borne  abundant  fruits.  *) 
But  the  uncompromising  Protector  of  the 
Indians  was  satisfied,  to  the  hour  of  his 
death,  with  nothing  less  than  the  absolute 
freedom  of  all  the  Indians,  and  the  resti 
tution  by  the  Spaniards  of  their  illgotten 
wealth. 

Las  Casas  answered  the  friars'  letter 
chiding  them  with  the  holiness  of  their  Kn- 
comenderos,  and  urging  them,  in  a  tone  of 
reproach,  not  to  rest  until  complete  justice 
was  done  to  their  flocks. 

I  refer  to  this  long  letter  because  it  gives 
several  data  of  vital  importance  to  his  bio 
graphy.  Thus  the  following  will  tell  us 
how  great  had  been  the  literary  activity  of 
the  first  American  priest.  UI  have  written 
many  sheets  of  paper,  more  than  two 
thousands  of  them,  many  of  which  have 

*)  The  density  of  pure  Indian  population  is  to 
this  day  greatest  in  the  territories  that  formed  the 
dioceses  of  Chiapa  and  Guatemala  when  Las  Casas 
wrote.  Nowhere  on  this  continent  can  as  many 
pureblooded  Indians  be  found  within  an  equal 
amount  of  territory. 


584    Life  ofBartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

been  read,  word  for  word,  from  the  chairs 
of  the  universities  of  Salamanca  and  Alcala, 
and  in  onr  own  college.  The  professor  of 
theology,  Father  Domingo  de  Soto  (may 
his  sonl  rest  in  peace),  approved  all  of  my 
writings,  which  he  read  or  heard  read,  and 
said  that  he  could  have  written  no  better 
himself  about  Indian  matters,  although  he 
would  have  adopted  a  different  style.  He 
sat  side  by  side  with  professor  Miranda  and 
professor  Cano  in  the  junta  called  together 
in  1551  by  the  emperor,  before  which  I  read 
my  Apologia  against  Sepulveda."  Accord 
ing  to  the  foregoing  and  my  own  calcu 
lations,  Las  Casas'  writings,  if  collected  to 
gether  would  have  formed  between  ten  and 
fifteen  thousands  octavo  pages  of  ordinary 
print.  The  reader  knows  already  that  he 
ranked  with  the  foremost  theologians  and 
canonists  of  his  time. 

Las  Casas'  ordinary  place  of  residence, 
after  his  resignation  of  the  See  of  Chiapa, 
was  the  college  of  St.  Gregory  of  Valladolid 
But  the  last  six  years  of  his  life  seem  to 
have  been  spent  in -court,  where  his  services 
were  almost  constantly  required  in  the 
government  of  the  Indies. 

The  decree  of  Philip  II. ,  ordering  that 
he  be  given  lodgings  wherever  the  court 
might  sit,  is  not  the  only  proof  of  the  fact 


Life  of  Bartolom6  de  Las  Casas.    585 

(overlooked  by  his  early  biographers)  that 
L,as  Casas  seldom,  if  ever,  found  himself  in 
that  city  after  the  year  1560.  When  the 
court  settled  in  Madrid  we  find  him  there 
too,  although  he  preferred  a  cell  in  a  Do 
minican  convent  to  the  court's  apartments. 
It  was  the  convent  of  Our  L,ady  of  Atocha, 
where  the  first  American  priest  made  his 
will  in  February  1564.  The  following 
portions  of  it  deserve  to  be  translated. 
4 'Inasmuch  as  the  goodness  and  the  mercy 
of  God,  whose  unworthy  minister  I  am, 
called  me  to  be  the  Protector  of  the  inhabi 
tants  of  the  countries,  which  we  call  the 
Indies,  who  were  once  the  lords  of  those 
lands  and  kingdoms  ;  inasmuch  as  he  called 
me  to  protect  them  against  the  unheard  of 
persecutions  and  oppressions,  of  which  they 
were  made  the  victims  by  the  Spaniards ; 
inasmuch  as  he  called  me  to  protect  them 
from  the  violent  deaths  which  desolated, 
frequently  under  my  eyes,  and  continue  yet 
to  desolate  thousands  of  leagues  of  terri 
tory  ;  therefore  I  have  labored  in  the  court 
of  the  kings  of  Castile,  going  and  coming 
from  the  Indies  to  Castile,  and  from  Castile 
to  the  Indies  many  times  for  about  fifty 
years,  i.  e.  from  the  year  1514,  for  the  love 
of  God  alone  and  through  compassion  see 
ing  those  great  multitudes  of  rational  men 


586    Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

perisli,  wlio  originally  were  approachable, 
humble,  meek  and  simple,  and  well  fitted 
to  receive  the  Catholic  faith  and  to  practice 
all  manner  of  Christian  virtues.  As  God  is 
my  witness  that  I  never  had  earthly  inter 
est  in  view,  I  declare  it  to  be  my  conviction 
and  my  faith  (and  I  believe  it  to  be  in  ac 
cordance  with  the  faith  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Church,  which  is  our  rule  and  our  guide), 
that,  by  all  the  thefts,  all  the  deaths,  and 
all  the  confiscations  of  estates  and  other 
uncalculable  riches,  by  the  dethroning  of 
rulers  with  unspeakable  cruelty  ;  the  perfect 
and  the  immaculate  law  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  natural  law  itself  have  been  broken, 
the  name  of  Our  Lord  and  of  his  holy 
religion  have  been  outraged,  the  spreading 
of  the  faith  has  been  retarded,  and  irre 
parable  harm  done  to  those  innocent  people. 
Hence  I  believe  that,  unless  it  atones  with 
much  penance  for  those  abominable  and 
unspeakably  wicked  deeds,  Spain  will  be 
visited  by  the  wrath  of  God,  because  the 
whole  nation  has  shared,  more  or  less,  in 
the  bloody  wealth  that  has  been  acquired 
by  the  slaughter  and  extermination  of  those 
people.  But  I  fear  that  it  will  repent  too 
late,  or  never.  For  God  punishes  with 
blindness  the  sins  sometimes  of  the  lowly, 
but  especially  and  more  frequently  of  those 


Life  oj  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas.    587 

who  think  tliemselves  wise,  and  who  pre 
sume  to  rule  the  world.  We  ourselves  are 
eye-witnesses  of  this  darkening  of  the  under 
standing.  It  is  now  seventy  years  since 
we  began  to  scandalize,  to  rob,  and  to 
murder  those  peoples,  but,  to  this  day,  we 
have  not  yet  come  to  realize  that  so  many 
scandals,  so  much  injustice,  so  many  thefts, 
so  many  massacres,  so  much  slavery,  and 
the  depopulation  of  so  many  provinces, 
which  have  disgraced  our  holy  religion, 
are  sins  or  injustices  at  all.  j 

I  have  also  given  to  the  college  of  St. 
Gregory  all  my  Latin  and  Spanish  manu 
scripts,  in  my  own  handwriting,  concern 
ing  the  Indians,  that  of  the  Historia  Gene 
ral  de  Las  Indias  included.  It  has  been 
my  intention  that  the  latter  should  never 
come  out  of  the  college,  except  for  the  pur 
pose  of  having  it  printed  at  such  a  time  as 
will  please  God,  while  the  original  must  at 
all  time  remain  in  the  college.  I  beg 
again  the  Fathers,  who  are  or  will  be  rec 
tors  or  regents,  to  comply  with  this  request 
of  mine  and  to  make  it  a  matter  of  con 
science  to  preserve  it  and  take  care  of  it. 

And  whereas  I  have  received  a  very 
large  number  of  letters  from  many  friars  of 
three  different  religious  orders,  and  from 
many  other  persons  from  almost  every  part 


588    Life  ofBartolomd  de  Las  Casas. 

of  tlie  Indies,  giving  information  about  all 
the  evils,  grievances  and  injustices  inflicted 
by  our  countrymen  on  the  natives  of  those 
kingdoms,  (although  they  had  in  no  man 
ner  offended  us)  and  begging  me  earnestly 
to  ask  the  king  and  his  council  to  find  a 
remedy  ;  and  whereas  these  letters  are  wit 
nesses  to  the  truth  which  I  have,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  defended  for  many  years,  and 
witnesses,  at  the  same  time,  of  the  in 
justices,  oppressions,  calamities  and  deaths, 
which  those  people  have  suffered  at  our 
hands,  thus  affording  a  history  ready-made 
and  authenticated  by,  in  every  way, 
credible  testimony ;  therefore  I  beg  the 
rector,  for  charity's  sake,  to  select  one  of 
the  least  busy  of  the  Fathers  of  the  college, 
and  to  assign  to  him  the  task  of  collecting 
all  said  letters  into  a  volume,  arranging 
them  in  chronological  order  as  to  the  time 
of  their  reception,  and  compiling  an  index 
showing  the  provinces  whence  they  came. 
The  volume  should  be  placed  in  the  college 
library  at  perpetuam  rei  memoriam,  in  or 
der  that,  should  God  decide  to  destroy 
Spain,  it  may  be  readily  seen,  that  the 
punishment  is  caused  ~by  our  own  destruc 
tions  in  the  Indies,  and  thus  the  reason  of 
his  justice  shall  be  made  apparent. 

I  penned  these  lines  at  the  end  of  Febru 
ary  1564. 


Life  ofBartolome  de  Las  Casas.    589 

Fray  Bartolome  de  Las  Casas,  bishop." 

Was  the  first  American  priest  a  prophet? 
And  if  so,  were  the  naval  battles  of  Manila 
and  Santiago  de  Cuba  the  last  scenes  of  his 
unfolding  prophesy  ? 

If  any  of  my  countrymen  thinks  so,  let 
him  reflect  that  the  all-wise  and  all-mighty 
God  frequently  punishes  the  sins  of  one 
nation  by  those  of  another ;  and  that  while 
at  the  end  of  this  'XIX.  century  scarcely 
an  Indian  is  to  be  found  over  the  length 
and  breath  of  these  United  States,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  XVIII.  the  aborigines 
were  everywhere  almost  as  thick  as  on  any 
other  part  of  this  continent. 

It  is  possible  that  the  lines  quoted  above 
were  the  last  written  by  L,as  Casas.  No 
other,  known  at  present,  in  his  handwrit 
ing,  bears  a  later  date. 

The  works  of  the  first  American  priest 
clearly  demonstrate  that  he  was  first  a  man 
of  prayer ;  second  that  he  possessed  in  an 
eminent  degree  an  abiding  faith  in  God, 
and  his  Providence  ;  and  third  that  he  was 
constant  in  the  practice  of  the  virtue  of 
mortification.  To  the  very  last  days  of  his 
life  he  kept  rigorously  the  severe  primitive 
rule  of  St.  Dominic. 

Good  Father  L,adrada  remained  his  com 
panion  to  the  last.  (  ' Together  they  prayed, ' ' 


590    Life  of  Bartolomt  de  Las  Casas. 

says  one  of  Las  Casas'  biographers,  "to 
gether  they  walked,  together  they  ate,  and 
together  they  helped  each  other  to  defend 
their  doctrines  and  the  Indians." 

At  last  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  ninety-two, 
Bartolome  de  L,as  Casas  was  abont  to  sur 
render  into  the  hands  of  his  Creator  his 
soul  in  a  cell  of  the  convent  of  Onr  L,ady  of 
Atocha.  His  fellow  Dominicans  knelt 
aronnd  his  humble  couch  and  recited  the 
prayers  for  the  dying.  Then  the  first 
American  priest  and  Protector  of  the  Indi 
ans,  holding  in  his  hand  a  lighted  candle, 
addressed  his  brethren  and  begged  them  to 
persevere  in  their  defense  of  the  Indians, 
and  asked  them  to  join  him  in  prayer  to 
God,  that  he  might  be  forgiven  for  any  re- 
missness  on  his  part  in  the  fulfilment  of  his 
mission.  As  he  was  about  to  state  how  he 
had  come  to  embrace  that  mission,  his 
beautiful  soul  left  its  earthly  tabernacle  to 
seek  a  home  in  heaven. 

Bartolome  de  L,as  Casas  died  the  last  day 
of  July  1566. 

Were  we  to  begin  with  his  sermon 
preached  on  Pentecost  Sunday  in  1514,  and 
read  all  the  ten  thousand  pages,  which  he 
says,  he  wrote  during  the  fifty  years  inter 
vening  between  that  date  and  1564,  when 
he  wrote  his  will,  not  one  would  be  found 


Life  of  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas.    591 

not  written  directly  or  indirectly  in  defense 
and  in  behalf  of  the  Indians.  Every  ser 
mon,  every  speech,  every  familiar  conver 
sation,  I  imagine,  spoke  of  the  Indians,  as 
his  last  words  were  spoken  for  his  Indians. 
Truly  if  his  mission  was  not  an  inspiration 
from  God,  the  Protector  of  the  Indians  was 
a  monomaniac  for  more  than  fifty  years. 
But  may  the  all-merciful  God  grant  this 
New  World  many  more  monomaniacs  like 
the  first  American  priest. 

Have  I  proved  that  in  the  pages  of  Am 
erican  history 

Non  est  inventus  similis  illi? 

My  task  is  done.  I  have  told  in  Eng 
lish,  as  well  as  I  knew  how,  the  story  of 
the  first  American  priest,  that  the  ten 
thousand  English  speaking  American 
priests  might  have  a  mirror  in  which  to 
reflect  their  own  lives,  and  a  prototype  to 
copy.  If  they  are  to  fulfil  their  mission  of 
christianizing  the  northern  part  of  this 
Western  Continent,  they  must  be  energetic, 
learned  and  persevering  in  the  fixed  pur 
pose  of  drawing  souls  to  God,  i.  e.  walk  in 
the  footsteps  of  Bartolome  de  L,as  Casas. 

The  following  beautiful  tribute  to  his 
memory  is  by  a  non-Catholic  author. 

"In.  contemplating  such  a  life  as  that  of 
L,as  Casas,  all  words  of  eulogy  seem  weak 


592    Life  o/  Bartolom&  de  Las  Casas. 

and  frivolous.  The  historian  can  only  bow 
in  reverent  awe  before  a  figure  which  is,  in 
some  respects,  the  most  beautiful  and 
sublime  in  the  annals  of  Christianity,  since 
the  apostolic  age.  When  now  and  then 
in  the  course  of  the  centuries  God's  pro 
vidence  brings  such  a  life  into  this  world, 
the  memory  of  it  must  be  cherished  by 
mankind  as  one  of  its  most  precious  and 
sacred  possessions.  For  the  thoughts,  the 
words,  the  deeds  of  such  a  man,  there  is  no 
death.  The  sphere  of  their  influence  goes 
on  widening  for  ever.  They  bud,  they 
blossom,  they  bear  fruit,  from  age  to 
age. 


*) 


*)  John  Fiske  in  his  "Discovery  of  America." 


